A Dark Disturbance to the Malfoy Family
by Kid Dynamite 090
Summary: An adult Draco, along with Lucius and Narcissa, takes in his previously unknown daughters from their unstable mother. Through the months, Draco begins to learn dark secrets surrounding both his girls.
1. Chapter 1

Lucius Malfoy was not happy. He hadn't been happy for the last two weeks and today he was particularly foul.

Mr. Malfoy was getting on in years. No longer was he a sportingly man in his forties. Never would be say he was too old, but he was very adamant that he was not a hatching dragon anymore. Still, with long, platinum blonde hair with flecks of grey, the same cold grey eyes and a few new wrinkles, he was still a sight fit for intimidation. Lucius was wearing a scowl a certain June morning; the 15th to be exact. Normally, he and Narcissa would be rather happy this time of year. This was the time that Draco would return from Hogwarts.  
But that was ages ago. Draco was no longer a school boy. No; now he was a man who worked for the ministry. Rest assured, Draco was still the handsome blonde with familiar grey eyes and pale, pointed features as in his Hogwarts youth. The only difference between him and a young Lucius really was that Draco's hair was kept similar to his final time at school, but still much shorter than his fathers.

On that certain June the 15th, Lucius was in the master bedroom of Malfoy Manor, finishing getting his robes set and buttoned correctly.  
"Lucius?" came a gentle voice from the doorway.  
Lucius looked in the mirror rather than turning to see his wife in the doorway.  
Narcissa Malfoy was the youngest of the ancient bloodline and most noble Black sisters. She too would never say she was too old for the goings about of their world, but a few lines and crows feet did grace her fair complexion. Her eyes, however, were still as light (if not crystal) blue as they had been in her youth. The same could be said for her light blonde hair, which today was in a tight bun style.

"Draco?" Lucius asked sternly, not moving, but only making eye contact with his wife through mirrored glass.  
Draco was in his own room. His room was also on the second floor of their home, just a few doors down from his parents. The second floor was mostly bedrooms, including a room Draco used as a nursery; but that was next door to his parents.  
This morning, Draco was not going to work. Rather, he and his parents were going to the Leaky Cauldron. Normally, Draco didn't fancy pubs with his parents, but today, they were a necessity. In his hand (which was getting a bit sweaty), he held a letter. A letter that was sent about 2 weeks ago, a letter that was the reason for Lucius's anger, and the reason he and his parents were off to the pub.  
Draco messily shoved the letter in his pocket and after a breath, hoping there some kind of mistake, left his room and meeting his parents at the front door downstairs. There was a mad discontent in his fathers face, and his mother just looked concerned. No one would be surprised.

"Ready?" growled Lucius, trying to sound calm.  
"Yes, Father," Draco said quietly.  
All three of them stepped out of their large mansion where a car, with driver, courtesy of the Ministry was waiting to drive them. When Draco had arranged for the ride, he managed to get something called a 'limo'. Apparently, they were what high powered and wealthy muggles drove around in.  
Since the downfall of You-Know-Who, some were reluctant to allow the Malfoy family back into commerce and the Ministry. As much as Draco hated it, it was perhaps Harry Potter's testimony that granted Draco his comfortable office job and spared his family from becoming a social pariah.

The Malfoys sat in silence in the back the limo as the driver made way through the streets, only stopping at the brown and rather downtrodden looking pub. Without a word, the family exited the car and entered the Leaky Cauldron. A very dingy, if not shabby place filled with magical energy and characters.  
Draco knew who to look for, and nervously scanned the room.

"Can I help you?"  
All three Malfoys turned quickly to the female who called.  
It was a girl who went to school with Draco. Hannah Abbot: the formerly pink-faced pig-tail wearing Hufflepuff girl. Well, now it would be Hannah Longbottom; not-as-pink-faced-who-traded-pigtails-for-a-short-French-braid.

"No…. thank you," Draco murmured.  
Hannah rolled her eyes as she turned herself to go back to work. Lucius couldn't help but think that if things were like they used to be; she'd be like her mother right about then.

"Do you see her?" Narcissa asked.  
"No, Mother, I-"  
Draco cut himself off when he spotted a woman sitting alone in a dark corner sipping from a cup.  
"There."  
Slowly, all three walked over. It was almost comical. Three distinguished and well dressed purebloods moving about as if there was something to worry about. But how true was their reasoning?  
"Are you-"  
"Yes. I am."  
The woman cut Draco off and made a motion for the family to sit down by bowing her head. The table wasn't in the brightest corner of the place, but it as obvious that this woman was not in the best of conditions. Her hair was very long, limp, and rather dirty (natural and clean, however, a pleasant auburn color). Her nails were long with some dirt under them, and her way of dress was rather sloppy. She was sipping loudly from a large tea cup, but it seemed there was only a drop of drink remaining.

Just as Lucius could feel a new scowl form, the woman looked up. She had hazel eyes that had long lost luster. She took a moment to look at the people sitting across from her, and smiled wickedly.

"Look-eh here. Good ol' Malfoys!" she squeaked.  
There was a long silence, with the woman still smiling strangely.  
"…Astoria?"  
The woman's smile faded quickly. Her face contorted to anger, very similar to Lucius.

Astoria Greengrass was many things: younger daughter of Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin, pureblood, recently disgraced mother.

"I-is it true?" Narcissa asked quietly.  
Astoria slurped loudly from the cup once more, this time causing people from all around to look over at the table.  
Lucius looked over at the stairs at the other end of the room that led to the rooms in the inn portion. When two girls came walking toward the table, Lucius cringed. Both because the one girl especially shown a striking resemblance to his son, and because her hair was a deep faux-purple.  
As they walked over, the older girl had a hand on her baby sisters' shoulder. The little one was giggling but it seemed her joy feel on deaf ears.

The older one was defiantly school-aged. She looked very much like Draco; same pale, sharp skin and features with grey eyes. Her face was very feminine, but this was offset by her hair which in addition to being faux-purple was short, edgy and even a bit choppy.

The little one was much younger and defiantly not in school. She was cute, wearing a lilac shirt with ruffled sleeves. Her hair was the trademark Malfoy-blonde which was tied into a high ponytail and her eyes were rounder than her sisters but a hazel color. In her hair was a heart-shaped barrette that was a very pale pink color.  
"C'mere, girls," called Astoria."  
It looked as if the older one was struggling to walk her and guide her sister over to her mother who stood up. Astoria placed a hand on each girls shoulder and said in tone that dripped resentment but was disguised as motherly pride, "Octavia is our eldest, while Mildred here is the babe-eh."  
A wicked smile.

"What do you want, Astoria?" Draco asked weakly.  
Astoria kept her grin and her hand on the girls and said, "It's not what I want; so much as what these poor girls do."  
To add insult to injury; Astoria made sure she looked pout and made her tone match.

"Draco, these girls need a dad-eh. Y' think you could do these girls a favor for once in their lives?"  
Narcissa held her husbands hand under the table, as if asking him to say something. But Lucius would not move his lips; this was Draco's battle.

"You want me-"  
"To take them!? Yes!" Astoria exclaimed quickly. (once again, the room looked at them from all around).

Octavia and Mildred stood silent, Mildred had ended her giggled before she came to her mother.  
Draco stayed quiet. He remembered the note that this woman had sent, the very note crumpled in his pocket. In the note Astoria wrote the girls wanted to see him, but putting names to faces hurt. Two girls who never knew there father. The young Mildred couldn't be more than 9, but the older on, she was almost a woman.

"We'll take them in," Lucius finally said, stiffly.  
All eyes shifted to the man.

Astoria smiled one more time and kissed the cheeks of both her children, whispering something to Octavia before leaving.  
"We've been living here for a spot," Octavia said, "We'll get our things.".


	2. Chapter 2

The ride to Malfoy Manor was very awkward. Draco avoided eye contact with his family; rather he looked out the window. Narcissa had held her husbands hand as a means of emotional support. Octavia was keeping her head down to avoid scowling at the others and Mildred just leaned against her big sister.

Eventually, the limo went up the driveway and stopped in front of the large mansions grand doors. Once Lucius had helped Narcissa from the car he snapped his fingers and a small house elf quickly popped toward the car and began taking their bags from the trunk. There weren't many; just one larger bag per girl and a smaller one that matched the color of Mildred's barrette.

Mildred was closest to Narcissa, and she gently tugged on her grandmothers' dress and asked nervously, "Could I carry my bag?"

Narcissa couldn't help but smile at the cute child, who smiled back in shy gratitude after Narcissa beckoned the elf to give Mildred her little bag.

"I'm the parlor, everything," Lucius said coldly.

The parlor was a few rooms in the large mansion and furnished with very old, but finely conditioned furniture and rugs. There was also a fireplace, but Octavia gathered that Lucius's cold demeanor would thwart any attempt at lighting a fire.

"Now, I have some questions for you both," the man of the house asked once everyone had sat down.

Lucius and Narcissa sat on one sofa and Draco and the children sat on one across from them with Draco next to Mildred with Octavia on her other side.

"How old are you, what year in school are you in and what is your house?"

Octavia answered precisely, "I'm 15, but I'll be entering my 6th year this fall. And I'm a Slytherin."

She smirked.

Any previous doubts about that girl's paternity had in just one facial movement been cracked in half. The (in)famous Malfoy smirk. With that came a bit of relief from the adults that the school aged girl was at least one of their own house.

The questions didn't end there. Lucius asked a variety of questions to Octavia regarding her studies, her scores and even behavior ("I like most of my classes, but I'm best at charms and I'd say it's my favorite.", "I get O's and A's.", "A lot of people are just jealous of my skills, it's not my fault. If I'm above something I'm going to point it out.")

Lucius, feeling satisfied, turned toward the little one, but before he could ask his wife gently asked how old Mildred was.

She smiled shyly and replied, "Six.".

Narcissa couldn't help but smile back.

"Judging from your mother, you both are accustomed to a far different fashion of life," Lucius began to say, "Now, I have allowed you and your father to live under my roof and in order to do so, some things must be adhered to."

"Like what?" Mildred asked curiously.

"When we are out or entertaining, only your finest dresses are to be worn. Around this house your attire can be more lax, but still must be appropriate. You mannerisms will always be respectful and thoughtful to us as your caretakers and others we entertain. Do we understand?"

He looked hard at both the girls, but took an extra moment to glare at Octavia.

"Yes," both girls said in unison.

"Have you two eaten today?" Narcissa asked.

"No. I was up early to be sure everything was packed up and Milly was ready. Mum wasn't around for most of the morning."

"I'll have the house elves prepare a late lunch," Narcissa said as she got up left to presumably the kitchen.

Draco finally stood up and looked at his girls. He then excused himself and said he needed to speak to his mother.

"We'll go to our rooms and unpack now," Octavia said blandly.

"One more thing," Lucius said, "You will refer to my son, my wife and me with proper titles: Father, Grandmother and Grandfather."

Octavia just nodded and took her sister out of the room. For a large mansions, finding there rooms weren't a bit problem. The two went down the second floor hall that was richly decorated with a deep, red rug over dark mahogany wood flooring.

A house elf was creeping out of a room down the hall that turned out to be Mildred's. Mildred looked inside but didn't seem to take to the room. Octavia looked at her and smiled, sighing a bit before saying, "When I can finally do magic outside school I'll help decorate the room to our fancy, alright?"

Mildred had a strangely devious smile on her face when she went into her own, leaving Octavia to see her own. Inside, she could see why Mildred was intimidated.

The room was about two times larger than the room she and her sister shared in the Leaky Cauldron, and at least three times bigger than her room with Astoria. The rug was deep, almost dried color and walls were paneled a deep green. On the opposite end of the wall with the door was a bed with a large window over it. On the other two walls were smaller windows. A vanity, dresser, mirror, and some end tables also were in the room. Octavia went over to the bed and looked out the main window. Her room faced the backyard. For a while there was lush, green yard but after a while, some wooded area began.

Meanwhile, in the dining room, a lone house elf was running himself rampant to prepare and fix up the meal. Draco and his parents sat a the table.  
"I can't believe this is really happening," Draco said.  
"Oh come off that," Lucius sneered, "This is the result of your careless doings years ago."  
Narcissa sat silent, sipping some wine.  
"Your mother and I decided on one child, you, for a reason! Now look! I'd never expect-"  
"Darling," Narcissa interrupted, "Darling you need to connect with your children. It will be easier with Mildred. But with Octavia, you'll need to find something you have in common; answer ay questions and be there for her."  
"Not just that, Draco. You must also show these girls authority and teach them any respect they lack. The older one, Octavia, did you see her hair?? Now I can tell you it won't be purple for very long. And yes, the younger one will be easy to accommodate."  
Draco sighed but thought that he must at least try. Narcissa told the house elf to slow down preparations to give Draco some time.

When he made it to Octavia's room, she was sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Octavia. How are you?" he asked and slowly walked in, hands in pockets.  
"Oh; I'm…alright."  
"So, you like charms class?"  
"Yea."  
"I was more a potions man, myself. But then again Professor Snape favored his own house."  
"I've heard about him. Went and got himself killed," Octavia looked down at her bed then back at Draco as if she made a quick contemplation, "Personally, I wouldn't have gotten involved."  
"A true Slytherin, you sound like," Draco said, a hint of pride in his voice.  
"That was Professor McGonagall told me once."  
"McGonagall? She's still a professor?"  
"Headmistress. When I was a second year, an older boy challenged me to a duel and I agreed. I'd lost but I put up a fight and used spells I heard others use or talk about. Some people asked me to help them train but I don't get involved. I don't need anyone else's problems."  
Draco couldn't help but feel a little tug at his heart. He felt like he had something in common with his eldest daughter.  
"When I was in school, I never got myself in too much trouble," Draco said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"The worst troublemakers are in Gryffindor house," Octavia sneered, "That James Potter."  
Draco's expression turned as if he had just been offered something he had distaste for.

"So Potter had a son."  
"A son? He had three kids! James is a year older than me, there's another runty boy who's about Mildred's age and a baby girl."  
"I remember Potter," Draco spat.  
The two would have gone into detail about their dislike for the Potter family, but a house elf had just respectfully interrupted them for lunch.

The dining room table had exactly five places set. Lucius sat at the head of the table, with his wife next to him and son next to her. Mildred sat next to Lucius with Octavia on her side.  
There was a lot of food. A basket of bread, meat, vegetables, and even some backed goods on each plate. Octavia predicted that Mildred would go right for the brownie on her plate.  
"Your grandmother baked those," Lucius said as he forked some food.  
"Thank you!"  
The adults smiled, Lucius was more content she knew what to say.

There was a bit of a silence before Narcissa asked Octavia, "How do you like Hogwarts?"  
Lucius knew his wife was trying to get the children and Draco to become more accustomed.

Octavia swallowed her food before answering, "Fine, Grandmother."  
That obviously wasn't the answer Lucius wanted, but he stayed quiet.  
It wasn't until after Mildred had poked around her plate did she ask to leave the table. Octavia soon followed suit.

The house was quiet well into the evening.

"Are you coming to bed?" Narcissa asked as she gently kissed her husbands cheek.  
"No, I'm taking a word with Draco."  
Narcissa nodded and went off to the master bedroom they shared, why Lucius found Draco sitting rather pitifully with head in hands in the parlor.  
"What did I get myself into, Father?" Draco asked.  
"I can't say," Lucius said sternly, not sitting down, "But what you now must do is deal with it."  
"Octavia; she seems like one of us. She defiantly is my daughter. Her attitude, appearance… everything. What, what am I to do, Father?"  
"Your mother and I worked hard to make you a proper pureblood man and wizard. I molded you in step to how my father molded me. You must work with these girls. I can't say how much their mother instilled in them about what it means to be a pureblood woman, but it would never hurt to remind them."

Draco nodded and sighed.

"Tomorrow I'm going to have more 1-on-1 time with each of them."  
"A decent start. Evening, Draco."  
Lucius turned and left his in the parlor room as the night sky only darkened upon the midnight hour.


	3. Chapter 3

Draco didn't fall asleep quickly the night before, the man took the luxury of sleeping in (Draco didn't have to work weekends). It was at eleven-forty when he finally woke up, but it wasn't by his own accord. Rather, he heard yelling outside in the hallway.

"You will not!" Lucius roared.

"Yes I can and will!" hissed Octavia.

Draco groggily pulled himself from bed and changed into some around-the-house-attire before opening the door and confronting the noise.

"What's all the noise?"

Both arguing parties turned to Draco, anger in their eyes.

"I'm going to Diagon Alley, _now_," Octavia said slowly, as if trying to make the men seem stupid.

"No you are not. You are staying here. You're not running off with Merlin knows who!"

Draco wanted to say something, but instead Narcissa came out from Mildred's room, looking very sour indeed.

"Both of you!" she hissed, "You're upsetting Mildred!"

"Milly!" Octavia piped up, "We call her Milly!"

"Don't you try to take away from your situation," Lucius sneered, "You're staying home. That's it!"

With that conclusion, Lucius walked himself down the stairs. End of discussion.

Rather than begin to cry, Octavia was fully enraged. She shouted after her grandfather but went back to her room, slamming the door.

Draco looked desperately at his mother who shook her head and pointed toward Octavia's door before going back into Milly's.

Draco sighed and knocked on his eldest daughters' door.  
"Not opening!" called Octavia from the inside.  
Draco tried to channel his father, and did so by just opening the door.  
"Octavia, I need to-"  
Draco was silenced when he went into the room.

The clothes that she wore yesterday were on the floor. There were already contents you would expect to find in a girls purse on top of her vanity and some Quiddich posters of the teams Ballycastle Bats and Holyhead Harpies and a sole poster of the violent beater, Karl Broadmoor, from the Falmouth Falcons. There also was a Slytherin-themed flag on the wall taped over the rooms' main window. On the floor next to the vanity were some old books and her wand.

"I see you… took the liberty to make yourself at home…"  
"And why shouldn't I? This is my room and it's obvious I'll be here for a while," the teenager said, still angry.  
"What happened between you and Father?"  
"The old git-".  
"Watch how you speak about him!"  
Octavia sighed, "I wanted to go to Diagon Alley with some friends today. I went down but he stopped me. So I got pissed and we started yelling."  
"Your Mum just placed you and your sister in my care, of course Father won't let you just run off!"  
"Come on! I'm not a little girl!"  
"No, but you're my daughter!"  
"Since when??"  
Draco was silenced.

"Face it, _Father_; you didn't even know we existed for more than a day now. I was afraid this would happen, you and the others get all stuffed and pretend to truly care about my wellbeing when it's just a control issue," Octavia's eyes narrowed as if she had more poison in her, but she just sighed, "Just leave me alone."  
"You-you can't be serious."  
Octavia said nothing.  
"Your mother just owls me out of nowhere and says _you _want to see _me_! Do you know what Father said to me when I came to him?? Do you!?"  
Octavia was obviously tuning out her fathers ranting.  
"Just leave me alone," she repeated.  
Draco was flustered and rather than scream, he did leave. He was red in the face and angry as can be. He even considered tracking down Astoria to give them back.  
"Draco," came Narcissa's voice, "Draco talk to your daughter."  
"I did, Mother. She blew up at me with ridiculous claims," Draco hissed.  
"Your other daughter," Narcissa said harshly as she past Draco pas the hall.  
He wasn't feeling up to it, but grudgingly knocked and entered his youngest daughters' room.

She was laying on her bed, head in a pillow and looking very upset.

"Mildred?" Draco said quietly.  
At the sound of her father's voice, she seemed to tighten her self into a fetal position.  
"Are you ok?"  
"Grandfather and Octavia were yelling."  
"They were," Draco didn't know what to say, but merely sat on Mildred's bed, "I'm sorry you had to hear that."  
"Why is Grandfather so mean?"  
"He's not mean, he just; wants to be sure your sister is safe."  
"Mum let her go with her friends."  
There was a silence, but Mildred eventually sat up and looked at her father. It looked as if she had a mild cry spell beforehand.  
"You can call my Milly, you know."  
"You want me to call you Milly?"  
She smiled a bit and said, "Mum and Octavia call me Milly."  
"Alright…Milly."  
"Can you make Grandfather less mean? And let Octavia go out? Sometimes she takes me for ice cream."  
"… I could maybe take you."  
Milly smiled wider and went over to hug her father. It was such a weird sensation for Draco. He had never been hugged by a little girl before; it was a simple feeling. But one that felt very powerful.  
"Maybe tomorrow?" Draco asked rather sheepishly.  
"Can Octavia come?" Milly asked hopefully.  
"Sure."  
Milly smiled at her father, and Draco couldn't help but smile back before he left her room.

Even though Draco was feeling good that at least one of his daughters liked him, he knew that he had one more thing to do. He took his time going down to his fathers study. In his boyhood, it was highly off limits. It wasn't until Draco's dark arts problems did Lucius allow his son to see inside, and Draco could see why.  
Years had not changed the study, when Draco knocked and heard his fathers command to enter that was a very plain fact.  
The room was actually hidden. There was a spot in the wall that looked like normal, but was hollow. A portrait of a stern man, possibly a relative on Lucius's side of the family, marked the location, but he never spoke. Rather, he glared at anyone who took too much time in front of the secret door. For a knob to appear, one must tap the wall with a wand.  
The room was cozy, if not a big small, arguably the smallest room in the house. The back wall was made of bookshelves which were very full. There was a desk, loveseat and a very large, comfortable chair Lucius fancied. But why the sheer knowledge of its existence was a secret was because of what also was in the room. There were a few shelves of dark potions and a few less-than-favorable items in the desk.

Lucius had taken siege in the room with a tall glass of elfin wine of a deep purple color.  
"Did you deal with you children?" Lucius asked blandly.  
"Yes, Father. It seems Octavia thinks your trying to control her rather-"  
"Draco, your mother and I didn't let you run rampant, did we? We taught you boundaries and respect. If you wanted something, you have to ask. Instill that in Octavia and do it quickly."  
"But she just wants freedom and things like they were-"  
"If she wanted things like they were," Lucius hissed, "She will go back to her mother wherever she is. If she wants to really know you that badly then she will adapt to the Malfoy style."  
Lucius sipped his wine dignifiedly. Draco could say nothing to change his mind. The blonde son simply left the room. It was also a bit of a gamble to leave the secret room, because you didn't know who was in the hall. Lucius personally preferred the apparate back into his bedroom.

While Draco was with Lucius, Narcissa went back the girls' room to call them for lunch. Milly happily came from her room and chatted Narcissa up as they went to the dining, Octavia slowly followed behind.  
Everyone eventually made their way into the dining room. Before Octavia could sit down, Lucius shot a white looking spell straight at Octavia's hair. Her faux-purple hair started to lighten back to her natural hair color (a medium auburn color). Octavia quickly brought her hands to her hair and had a look of distraught on her face. As soon as her initial shock melted away, Octavia turned herself as if to stomp away, but was met with Lucius stern voice.  
"Sit. Down."  
Muttering under her breath, she took her seat and the family had a very quiet, awkward meal.

It wasn't until after lunch did Octavia speak another word. It was to Milly. They were in her room and Milly was brushing the hair of her favorite doll.  
"Milly, what do you think of Father?" Octavia asked.  
"I think he's nice. He said he'd take us for ice cream tomorrow."  
"What about Grandmother and Grandfather?"  
"Grandmother is nice. She's fun to talk to says I'm smart. Grandfather scares me a little."  
"You don't need to be scared or worry. If he ever scares you, tell me straight away, ok?"  
"Okay."  
"You know why I'm telling you this?"  
Octavia gently put her hand on the doll to push it down so that Milly was focused on her.  
"Why?"  
"Because I don't want you to feel like you're not right for being you."  
Milly nodded, but Octavia doubted she understood everything she was trying to relay. But it was good enough for her. Milly seemed to be good in Malfoy Manor and that's what was important to Octavia. The elder sister didn't worry as much for Milly, she was tame and was more interested in playing with dolls and asking about Hogwarts than making personal statements. But as for Octavia, with the de-coloring of her hair, she was officially a woman on a mission.


	4. Chapter 4

Draco kept his promise to Milly about the ice cream. Draco brought Milly to Diagon Alley around noon. He ordered a butter beer flavored cone, Milly went for a vanilla-chocolate cup with sour sprinkles (a type of wizard topping with some sprinkles normal flavor, and some sour).

"Father?" Milly asked.  
"Yes?"  
"Do you work?" Milly asked, looking a bit in awe of him.  
"Yes, I work at the ministry."  
Milly smiled.  
"Mum worked in Knocturn Alley…" Milly trailed off, then came in closer to Draco and whispered, "But I'm not allowed to go down there."  
"That's a good rule your Mum set up," Draco said.

"Father?" Milly asked.  
"Yes?"  
"Can I call you Daddy? You seem nice. You can call me Milly!"  
The little girl smiled at her father, who just couldn't stop the grin on his face.  
"Of course, Milly."

Originally, Draco was just going to take Milly out and back home, but he just couldn't. She was so happy to be with him so he brought her around a bit. They visited the bookshop and Milly tried on robes and Madame Malkins.  
"This is what I'm going to wear when I go to school," Milly said when she tried on some robes.  
"Do you know what you house you want to be in?" Draco asked.  
"Mum says I should be a Slytherin like her and Octavia… but Octavia tells me I'm gonna be in Ravenclaw. I like Ravenclaw. She has pretty colors."

Draco was feeling very good when he and Milly got home a few hours later. Narcissa was in the parlor room reading when Draco and Milly came in.  
"Thank you, Daddy!" Milly piped as she blew a kiss and ran off.  
Narcissa's heart melted.  
"Oh, Draco," she cooed.  
"She's really great. Sweet and innocent like a little girl should be," Draco said.  
"It seems you have the little one, now you need to learn about the older one."  
Draco couldn't help but sigh and sit down next to his mother.  
"I don't know how to reach her. I mean, she's a teenager, almost an adult. What, she has one year of Hogwarts after this?"  
"Draco, it's not impossible. You were a teenager yourself, once."  
"Yes, but a teenage _boy_, Mother."  
The older woman patted her sons shoulder.  
"It's not horrendously hard. Just find common ground and go from there. She'll eventually open up. It will just take some time. Remember, I was a teenage girl once."  
Draco and his mother shared a chuckle and he thanked her before going to Octavia's room. He knocked on her door, but no answer.  
"Octavia?" he asked.  
"What?"  
"I need to speak with you."  
There was a long pause before the door opened and Draco could go inside.  
Everything seemed normal, until Draco looked straight toward her bed. There were wood shavings on the pillow from the backboard. What used to be an expertly crafted wooden sphere in the middle of the board now looked almost like a face. A simple muggle switch blade was on the bed as well.  
"What did you do!" Draco exclaimed quietly.  
Octavia made a bit of a pout face.  
"I'm carving-"  
"You're a Slytherin!"  
"I'm a Leo!"  
Draco stopped talking.  
"In Divination, we did some work on Western astrology. I'm a Leo... the lion. Relax," Octavia said, but swiftly said, "I'm not committing house mutiny," in a dumb kind of voice.  
"I didn't take Divination in my final years. Seemed like a waste."  
"It is. But occasionally we work on something interesting."  
It seemed the tempers in the room cooled tremendously.  
"You know Father will not be happy when he sees that," Draco said as he peered over.  
"I have more work to do. Maybe he'll like it when it looks more lion-esque."  
Draco sighed, "Why do you need to be so difficult?"  
Octavia looked angry, but she didn't yell, only her nose crinkled when she said, "I'm not. This is me. I'm taking pride in myself."  
"With purple hair and lion carvings?"  
"Yes! It's me!"  
She almost seemed to be pleading, but it wasn't a plead. Octavia was much too proud and confident to beg or plead.  
"I'm going to need to punish you."  
"Go 'head. Not like I can do anything or go anywhere."  
"Octavia, this isn't easy-"  
Now she defiantly was angry and her voice was rising, "You don't know what 'not easy' is. Always had everything handed down to you. As far as I'm concerned, me and Milly are just more things handed down. After all; not like you had to raise us."  
Her words burned Draco from the inside. He genuinely had no idea they existed. Never did he receive earlier owls from Astoria, Hogwarts or anyone. Thinking fast, Draco tried to think of something relevant to say, but nothing came up. Rather, he tried to quickly think of a punishment.

"…Just don't try and leave the house for a few days," Draco said before leaving the room, defeated.  
"Whatever," Octavia mumbled as she went back to carving the lion.  
Draco was tired. It wasn't even dinner but he was just tired. With no other options he went into the bathroom next door to his bedroom. He locked the door and ran the shower. Carefully he peeled off his clothes and just stood, head up, in the hot water. He inhaled deeply and leaned against the wall. He tried to ponder how he could reach Octavia. It wasn't before long that an idea shot into his head.  
Draco took no spare time. He turned off the shower and got dressed again. He went back to Octavia's room, but didn't both to knock.  
She was still carving.  
"Octavia."  
"Yes?"  
"You like Quiddich?"  
Octavia turned and made an expression as if he just stated the obvious.

"Yea, I do."  
Draco put his hands in his pockets.  
"I'm partial to the beaters," Octavia said.  
"I was a seeker in my days at school."  
"I think I saw your name someplace."  
It wasn't a conversation of the ages; but it was a conversation. The two talked about Quiddich. They talked about their favorite teams, their favorite strategies, their favorite players and where Slytherin stood at school.  
"Hufflepuff took last year," Octavia said.  
"Hufflepuff??" Draco couldn't help but snort a bit in disbelief.  
"Yea. I don't know why, but it seems they're actually….respectable now."  
Dinner was much more comfortable that night.  
"Daddy and me-"  
"Daddy and I, dear," Narcissa corrected, with a smile.  
"Daddy and I went and got ice cream! And-and he let me try on school robes!"  
"Excited for when you go to school?" Lucius asked as he cut some meat.  
"Mhm! I want to do that spell where my bag gets bigger on the inside."  
"It's good to see a flowering student," Lucius said.  
"Lucius, since you understand Mildred's desire to learn, why don't you do a bit of magic with her after dinner?" Narcissa said coyly as she swallowed some food.  
"Fine," Lucius said.

He knew what games Narcissa was playing, but Lucius was a good husband and would let his wife win this round.

Octavia played dinner off coolly as if she hadn't just defaced her bedpost. Rather, she stayed for the most part silent.

"Octavia?" Narcissa asked before Octavia left the table when she was finished,  
"Yes, Grandmother?"  
"Would you mind waiting for me in my room? I need to show you something."

"Sure."  
Octavia left to the master bedroom, Lucius told Milly to get her bag and meet him in the parlor.

She'd admit it; Octavia was impressed by the master bedroom. It was a bit bigger than the normal rooms, and much grander. A picture of Draco as a small child giving Eskimo kisses to Narcissa hung on the wall next to a portrait of a (much) younger Lucius and her on their wedding day, kissing. There was a loveseat and armchair and just finer furniture and private bathroom.  
"Dear?" Narcissa called as she entered.  
"Yes, Grandmother?"  
"I want you to see something," she said and walked over to small bookshelf.  
She pulled out a thick leather bound book and walked over to the loveseat, inviting Octavia to sit next to her. The granddaughter did so, and Narcissa opened the book to a few pages in.  
"This is me, when I was your age," Narcissa said.  
The moving photo was of a girl with sassy blonde hair about shoulder length. She was in a breezy summer dress and laughing loudly with another girl who had longer, darker hair and looked like a relative.  
"You were pretty," Octavia said.  
"Thank you," she turned the page, "This is Lucius and I at school."  
The picture was of a 16 year old Lucius Malfoy (who still had the long hair, but then tied back) holding Narcissa's hand and apparently bragging to some other students.  
Narcissa showed a few more photos before she closed the album.  
"Do you know why I'm showing you this?" Narcissa asked.  
"Relive the glory days?"  
"No, Octavia, I know it may be hard for you and your father or grandfather to connect with you. But I want you to know they do care and love you and we were all, indeed, young like you and understand."  
Octavia would have mentioned that no one knew her long enough to love her, but she liked having her grandmother as an ally.

When Octavia was getting ready for bed, Milly was happily chatting about watching Lucius do magic. Octavia was happy for her; she didn't remember the last time Milly saw magic. Milly finally went to bed leaving Octavia alone in her bed, sort of… happy.


	5. Chapter 5

June soon ended without much of a commotion. Slowly but surely, it seemed everyone was getting used to the new arrangements.

Draco would go off the work, Milly would usually hang around Lucius or Narcissa all day and Octavia would often be in her room or occasionally with the others.

Draco also got a little taste of fatherhood himself. Like when Milly had a nightmare and woke him up to stay at her bedside. He was tired the next morning, but it was worth it.  
Now it was July, and very hot out. And even as the people in the house became closer, Lucius still had to battle Octavia over attire.  
"It's hot," Octavia insisted.  
"Yes, it is, but that doesn't mean you can run around this house looking like poor street urchin..!"  
Apparently, a tank top and short-shorts were too much for Lucius to allow. Milly didn't have the same battles; her sun dresses were always be complimented by Narcissa.

It was Octavia mentioned that she needed an owl for the rapidly approaching school year did the bonds really seem to be tested.  
Lucius agreed that the family would go on an outing for the owl, assuming Octavia dressed correctly. She took 'correctly' as a low cut 3-quarter sleeve shirt and black pants. Lucius wasn't happy, but Narcissa convinced him she was alright. Draco was a bit stunned when Octavia said she would pay for the owl with what little money she had in the family vault at Gringotts, but Draco insisted.  
By the time they arrived at Diagon Alley it was about 10 in the morning.  
"Let's go, everyone," Lucius said as he led the way.  
Octavia took the opportunity to mutter to Milly about how he was being such a hard ass about a casual outing.

The store was just as noisy and dirty as usual with an older looking witch behind the counter.  
"Morning, everyone," she said, "What can I be interesting you in?"  
"An owl that can fly to and from Hogwarts," Lucius said.  
The witch seemed to ponder a bit before showing the family to a set of cages in the corner all full of owls.  
"Any of these should suit your needs. Just bring the one you want to the front," she said and went back to the counter.  
Mrs. Malfoy wanted Octavia to choose her owl quickly; Eeylops Owl Emporium was never her favorite store.

Octavia and Milly conversed about which owl to choose.  
"This one?"  
"No, no."  
"That one?"  
"Doesn't look very friendly, does he?"  
"This one looks sad…."  
"She's too weak."  
Lucius was about to pipe up they needed to choose when Octavia finally had her choice. It was a medium sized screech owl who's body looked puffy and face looked serious.  
"This one," Octavia said confidently as Milly smiled at the creature.  
"Good," Draco said as he went to pay for the owl.  
Not two steps before the door, Milly exclaimed.  
"Daddy!"  
Milly hurried over to a very tiny cage holding a very tiny owl in it. A baby brown owl.  
"What is it, dear?" Narcissa asked.  
Milly picked up the cage and was nearly shoving it up to Draco's face.  
"Can I please, please, please get this??"  
"No," Lucius said flatly.  
Milly's face went into a deep pout, and this was maybe the first time Lucius saw Draco in the girl.  
"He's small, sad and scared," she insisted.  
"Oh, Lucius," Narcissa said, almost pouting herself.

Milly looked up at Draco with wide eyes, much like an owls own.  
Draco sighed but went back to the counter with the owl to pay. Milly was clapping and obviously very excited to have her first owl.  
"That's going to be your Hogwarts owl when you become of age," Lucius warned.  
"Good! He'll have time to grow up!"  
Once the owls were bought and paid for, the family settled into a café for lunch. Over lunch, Octavia proclaimed her owl was named Octavius (the male version of her name, of course) while Milly mulled it over and eventually dubbed her owl simply Baby.

"What lovely owls you chose," Narcissa said as they finished and prepared to go home.  
"I thought so, thank you," Octavia said.  
The girls had no time for the adults once they arrived home. They both went right to Octavia's room to let out and settle the owls. They both seemed happy to have mothers and a place to hop around.  
Octavia made sure that no one was coming when she pulled out a piece of parchment from inside her vanity drawer.  
"What's that?" Milly asked as he gave some leftover dinner carrots to Baby.

"Letters to the mates," she said as she tied a letter onto to Octavius's leg.  
"Really? What's it say?"  
"Just describes our situation and plans for school."  
"Already?"  
"Yea, last year they were talking about something or other but school ended and we ended up here before they could tell me more."  
"Does Daddy know?"  
"No, none of them do," Octavia looked at her sister seriously, "And you can't tell them."  
"Why not?"  
"I don't want them knowing everything about me, so do you promise to keep this hush?"  
"Of course!"  
Milly hugged her sister and Octavia gave a relieved sigh before giving her owl instructions and sending him off.

Octavia began to really appreciate her pick in owl when by morning he was perched on the open window sill, a new letter on his leg. Octavia petted her new friend and promised to bring him some breakfast (which she did).  
Milly also connected well to her owl. He looked a bit intimidating but really was baby who could barely fly… but that didn't mean Milly didn't try to help by verbally encouraging him.

For a while, the adults had no idea that Octavia was sending secret messages to her school friends. And ironically, it was by her own mistakes that they figured it out.

She was about to let Octavius out with a new letter, a rather unflattering one, when Lucius saw and asked what she was doing. She tried to play it off but he took the letter and nearly exploded.  
"How dare you! How dare you criticize how I run this household!"  
"Your so stiff!"  
"I demand respect!"  
"I've given plenty!"  
That was only the first of a few fights that plagued the month. Even though she was forbidden to send post, Octavia snuck a few letters out, but her owl had to leave very late and return very early. It tired the poor thing out.  
Draco and Narcissa tried to calm Lucius down. It seemed everything Octavia did he picked at. Her clothes, her hair, her ideas, even how she walked ("Are you really wearing _that_??", "Why don't you try and grow your hair like a lady?", "Those ideals are for the weak minded.", "Walk right!").  
It wasn't until Milly talked to Lucius he expressed some sympathy.  
"Grandfather?" Milly said one day as Lucius read in the parlor.  
"Yes, Mildred?"  
Milly went and sat on his lap, much to his dismay.  
"Why are you mean to Octavia?"  
"She needs discipline, your sister."  
"She's nice."  
"I'm afraid it's not how nice she is."  
Lucius tried to explain to the child what he meant, but she was still confused.  
"She's really sad, Grandfather. She tells me."  
Lucius looked at the girl and could see she was genuinely worried for her sister.  
"Alright, I'll do something about it."  
Milly smiled widely and kissed her grandfather on the cheek before running off, probably to play with Baby.  
What Lucius meant was, he'd make Draco explain to Octavia about why he acted as he did. Draco wasn't thrilled about it but he did go up to her room one evening. It was after dinner and she wasn't in her room.  
Draco would have looked for her, but he saw parchment with a quill and ink bottle on her desk. He went over and peered at it, only to feel uneasy and upset after reading the incomplete note.

Malfoys and Milly,

I'm sorry, but I cannot deal with this anymore. I'm leaving.

I have no idea where I'm going of if I'll be back. Milly, be sure they take care of you.

I'm leaving you here because I cannot do so.

"What are you doing?"  
Draco turned around and ushered Octavia in.  
"I see you know what I'm doing," Octavia said lowly.  
"You are not running away!"  
"Why not!?"

"Because I hate this place!"  
It took a long time before Draco convinced Octavia to stay. It was raining pretty hard out.  
Draco tried to explain that they all cared, but in return he listened to Octavia and her view of the houses injustice.  
"I know things aren't ideal for you, but we all care for you," Draco said.  
"I should have just left, no note."  
"Leaving Milly?"  
"I love my sister. And she's young and needs parents. I spent the last few years seemingly without a Mum. I'd be fine."  
"I may not be able to give you a Mum, but can I at least try and be a Dad?"  
Octavia tried to keep her pride in check by shrugging the offer off and saying it was his choice. Draco knew she was happy, her response wasn't much different than what he would do.


	6. Chapter 6

Octavia was a stubborn soul by nature, but even she could appreciate, if not feel a bit superior, to the fact Lucius was being kinder than usual. It was a norm to see him muttering under his breath or taking a deep breath when she was doing something he saw as unfit.  
On the morning he saw her going to the bathroom in a tank top and panties, he grumbled and averted his gaze.

Octavia did however spend lots of time owling people. Draco preferred to turn a blind eye, but Narcissa and Lucius were completely in the dark.

One pleasant surprise was how close Octavia got to Narcissa.  
Two bonded and traded stories, especially one dealing with sisterhood. Narcissa talked lightly about her days dreaming of attending Hogwarts with her older sisters, while Octavia chatted up about how she would tell Milly the most outrageous stories from school.

Milly seemed to be rubbing off on Lucius herself. He seemed to be a bit mellower when it came to the girls and let Draco take over the parenting more. Like when Milly ran through the mud on a rainy day, it was Draco who gave her a mild scolding when she tracked mud into the house.

Draco himself grew more impressed with his daughters. Octavia was so snide and confident, but so motherly toward Milly and seemed to take part in a good amount of her sisters' escapades (Milly didn't tell her father that it was Octavia's idea or that a very muddy older sister was hiding until she could sneak inside). Milly was curious and very kindhearted, but defiantly had a sneaky side. He was starting to really see the girls grow on him.  
The week before August, everyone noticed Octavia become more reserved than usual. Milly wouldn't say a word, but she assured the adults there wasn't a problem.  
"You won't tell us, dear?" Narcissa asked.  
"Nope!" she exclaimed with a smile.  
When the adults went to bed on August 2nd, no one thought there would be much change in Octavia.  
But on August 3rd at exactly 8:14 AM, the Malfoys were awoken by loud sounds in Octavia's room. Rushing in nighttime garb, Lucius threw open the door only to see Octavia and Milly. Laughing. Perfectly Fine. Laughing loudly with Octavia tightly holding her wand.  
"What is this??" Lucius exclaimed very angrily.  
"This!"  
Octavia pivoted on her heels and levitated a new poster on her bed into the air.  
"How can you-" Draco cut himself off when it came to him mid sentence.  
It was Octavia's birthday.

"Oh no," Lucius muttered under his breath, he knew it too.  
Octavia had changed her room a bit more. There were pictures of muggle boys half-undressed on her walls with autographs under them and Octavia had taken the liberty of cutting up and personalizing some of her clothes by having them tailored shorter or discolored.

"You take them down!" hissed Lucius.  
"Permanent sticking charm!" cheered Milly.  
Narcissa looked at Milly as if trying to tell her to hush and stay out of it.

"Oh, and Grandfather?"  
Octavia took a bold stance and tapped her head with her wand and her hair instantly turned back into the deep purple it was when they met.  
Lucius was furious. Narcissa was astounded. Draco was completely flabbergasted.

Malfoy Sr. tried to verbally go after Octavia, but nothing could ruin her happy mood that she could now legally do magic at home; which meant she was almost purely immune to Lucius's demands and conditions. Eventually, Lucius and Narcissa left the door way for a very early breakfast.  
"I didn't know…" Draco said rather automatically.  
"Well I didn't expect you too. Had to keep it quiet so you all wouldn't get wise," Octavia stated, still smiling and pointing her wand toward one of the muggle posters.

Draco felt bad. He felt like a failure. Not even knowing his eldest daughters birthday.  
Eventually, Octavia saw this and frowned.  
"It's not your fault. If anything its good you didn't know."  
That didn't help.  
"Happy birthday, Octavia," Draco said and went back to his room to change for work.

Octavia wasn't too saddened by her fathers despair. Rather, she preferred he didn't know until the moment. No one suspected anything. Especially that even earlier that morning she helped make Milly's room a bit more friendlier with more feminine colors and transfiguring some of the furniture to stuffed animals.

"I don't even know my own daughters birthday!" Draco exclaimed angrily to himself as he took a shower.

"My own little girl."  
Draco was lucky his Ministry job was fairly cushy. Office with a view, a long lunch, ample privileges and time off available was just part of his package.  
During the next few weeks, Draco began to think hard to himself. The weather was cooling a bit, and in a matter of days Octavia's school letter would be arriving. Then his daughter would be out of sight and with him out of her mind. It was just seeping in what it must have felt like for his own parents (especially his mother). Worrying about who his daughter is with and what she's doing.

Octavia was so happy when she finally got her letter one morning. It had the results of her O.W.L.S. By the smug look on Octavia's face, everyone could only assume she had well proficient marks.

Miss Octavia Greengrass

Malfoy Manor

Southern Wiltshire

The results of your Ordinary Wizarding Levels (O.W.L.'s)  
are as follows:

Astronomy~ Acceptable

Charms~ Outstanding

Defense against the Dark Arts~ Outstanding  
Divination~ Outstanding  
History of Magic~ Exceeds Expectations

Potions~ Exceeds Expectations  
Transfiguration~ Outstanding

"Very good, Octavia," said Narcissa as she peered at her marks.  
"I thought so."  
"Respect," Lucius said sternly.  
"Thank you, Grandmother."  
"I want to take Care of Magic Creatures!" Milly said.  
"You can… at some point. Hagrid'll love-"  
"Hagrid is still tearing??" a stunned Draco asked.  
"I doubt _your_ Hagrid. Olympius Hagrid is the gamekeeper and teachers C-M-C."  
Draco had a brief recollection of the loveable half-giant he and his posse so ruthlessly went against in his youth. This Hagrid must be his son.

"What do you want to do as an adult?" Lucius asked.  
"I want to work with the Wizengamot," Octavia said seriously.  
"That's a very high place to work," Lucius warned, looking at Octavia closely.  
"I've told my professors, they completely have faith in me."  
It wasn't long after that conversation that September 1st rolled around.

Draco was up before dawn pacing in his room. Knowing that in a few hours he'd be letting go of his daughter until the holidays.


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on!" Octavia called to her family as she rushed toward the platform.

Her family hurried behind her.  
"We have time!" Lucius sneered.  
He never enjoyed being rushed or told to rush.  
"I don't want to be late," Octavia said as she glared at her grandfather for a moment before stepping through the portal.  
"Octavia, can I have a word?" Draco asked.  
Octavia, rather impatiently, stood next to her father while even Octavius in his cage hooted as if he was annoyed by all the commotion.

"I want you to be careful. As you get older, things are more temping… and… I don't want you to get involved in anything… because it might seem like it's nothing…"  
Octavia tried to be nice, but her eyes said it all (especially when she rolled them).

The train was filling up with the last few students. Octavia gave her grandmother and sister a kiss, grabbed her bags, and made sure she was near enough to get on the train before calling out, "Don't worry, everyone! I'm not going to do anything like get into a boy's bed!"  
Draco's face reddened and Lucius looked very stern, if not a bit mad.  
"Grandmother?" Milly asked as she looked up at Narcissa, "What does she mean?"  
"I'll explain when you're her age, dear."

Octavia knew exactly where she was going when she was on the train. After peeking into three or four compartments, she finally found hers.  
"Octavia!"  
Inside the compartment were Octavia's friends.  
Jean Zabini looked very much like her father, Blaise Zabini. She had dark skin with eyes and hair to match. She was a bit quiet, but pretty precise and a natural schemer.

Marissa Goyle also looked very much like her father, but more in a bad way. She was large, thickset, with dull facial expressions. Luckily, Marissa wasn't quite as dim as her father.

When Theodore Nott was in school, he was known as a clever loner, his son was the complete opposite. Carson was a blonde boy who needed to feel acceptance. While it wasn't praise, the girls did talk to him.  
Balinda Bland, on the other hand, was not a friend. Rather, she was similar to Nott. She was a final year Ravenclaw who was painfully insecure. Insecure to the point she stumbled over herself to do what the others said. She was Head Girl this year, and Octavia and Jean especially saw no problem with using their 'friendship' to their advantage.

"So what's been going on over your summer?" Jean asked.

Octavia took a long time to explain everything while answering the occasional question (more often a stupid one by Marissa).

After the group bought candy, Jean suddenly got serious and said in a low voice, "Do you remember last year?"  
There was a short pause before everyone looked at Balinda.  
She didn't know. Octavia was wary about letting Balinda in on everything. After all; she was Head Girl and a Raevnclaw.  
"Balinda, go keep watch outside."  
Balinda looked unsure, but it didn't take her too long to follow Octavia's direction.

"Did you find anything out?" Octavia asked.  
"A little. My father is very reluctant to talk about it. Didn't want him getting suspicious," Jean said.  
"My grandfather won't say anything either," said Marissa.  
Carson shook his head in agreement.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. It wasn't until the train stopped did anyone even remember Balinda outside. As usual, faced with the reality her friends forgot about her, she just chalked it up to an accident and followed them out, only to part ways to go to her table inside the Great Hall.

The others all sat together and sat bored-like while Headmistress McGonnigal helped sort the students, just as she did as a professor.  
After the final student and feast, everyone went to their common room. Carson was left behind trying to butt into someone elses conversation while the girls went to their dorm.  
"We need to find out more," Jean said.  
"I agree. We just need to time it right. It's too early," Octavia explained.  
"Maybe not. If it's so early, no one will get suspicious."  
Marissa just sat on her bed like a rock, listening.

"We need to get Balinda to help us," Octavia said.  
"I'm sure that won't be too hard," assured Jean.  
Their conversation only ended when the other girls came up to rest and get ready for their next and first day at Hogwarts.


	8. Chapter 8

Back at Malfoy Manor, everyone was noticing a rather unwelcome change in Milly since her sister left for school.

Rather than being curious and bubbly, she was uninterested and spending most of her time with Baby the owl.

It was Narcissa who went to Milly in her room and asked her what was wrong.  
"Nothing," Milly said sternly and continued to pet Baby.

"Is it about your sister going to school without you?"  
Milly took a moment before looking up at her Grandmother with wide eyes and said, "I want to go to school!"  
She soon began to moan all the reasons she was perfectly able to attend Hogwarts.  
"I know how to hold a wand properly! I'm smart! I like magic! I have an owl!"  
Narcissa listened to the little girl moan for a moment before putting a soft finger to his lips to hush her, but with a warm smile.  
"Now, now. Your turn will come. You and Baby will have all kinds of fun with all kinds of people."  
Milly came up from sitting on the floor and sat next to her grandmother on the bed. She snuggles into the blonde woman's side and asked in a low voice, "Even the muggle-borns?"  
"What do you mean?" Narcissa asked.  
"Mum said that they weren't meant to be at Hogwarts. She told me not to be friends with them. Is that true? She said she wouldn't be happy…"  
Narcissa tried to stall for some time by rubbing the girls back and mentally choosing her words carefully.

"It's very complicated, your mothers' ideals. All I can say is, only you can choose your friends."  
Milly smiled up at her grandmother.

Even with Milly's reassurance, something about what she asked didn't click with Narcissa. Right when Draco returned from work, she asked him about it.

"Draco?" Narcissa asked as Draco has a glass of wine in the parlor.  
"Yes, Mother? How was your day?"  
"Lovely, Draco. I was wondering, however, how do you think Astoria raised the girls?"  
Draco blushed a bit. He really didn't like thinking about Astoria. It reminded him that just a few months ago he was completely in the dark about his own children.  
"I'm sure well. They seem to be alright. Why, did Milly say something?"  
His expression turned a bit more intense.  
"No, no. I was just wondering."  
Narcissa left Draco alone, and Draco knew better than to interrogate this own mother.

~

"Miss Greengrass!"  
Octavia's eyes shot open and she slowly tried remembering where she was.  
"S-Sorry, Professor," Octavia said automatically.  
"You mustn't drift off, my child… the future demands you full attention!"  
Octavia waited until Professor Trelawney was out of earshot to mutter, "And St. Mungo's should give its full attention to you."

Octavia was alone in her morning classes, not seeing her friends until lunch. When the time came she took her usual seat with her usual company at the Slytherin table.  
"I tried to get a pass into the restricted section," Jean said quietly.  
Octavia, Marissa and Carson leaned in to listen better.  
"Yes, and?" Octavia asked.  
"Not good. I think I drew some unwanted attention by my Astronomy professor."  
"Then what are we going to do?" hissed Octavia.  
"Relax…! I'm sure we can think of something."  
"Maybe….Balinda?" Carson muttered.

Octavia and Jean looked at Carson and back at each other. Perhaps the boy who needed attention had brought attention to a good idea.

~

It was well past Milly's bedtime; in fact it must have been about 11 in the evening. The adults were well tucked into their beds, snug and sound asleep. Young Milly, in a pastel-yellow nightgown, was restless. Rather than toss and turn in her bed, she slipped out of her room; ready for an in-home adventure.  
Milly was very quiet as she crept around the dark house. She stepped slowly to be sure she wasn't about to fall down the stairs or hit an end table.  
Eventually, she found herself on the bottom floor. There wasn't much light. There was only what little moonlight shone thorough high windows. Somehow, Milly crept down a less-that-usually passed through hallway.  
Milly walked with her hand against the right wall. She continued her blind stroll down the darker than usual hall until her wrist hit a doorknob.  
For a moment, the little girl pondered what was behind the door.  
She opened the door and once more stepped with caution. There were stairs. Even slower with more caution, Milly kept a hand on the wall and stepped down to each step, not moving until both feet were on solid step. The steps continued for a while, and Milly began wondering how far she was going down.  
Finally, she did find an end and felt both feet on flat ground. She was in bare feet, and the floor felt very, very cold; colder than hardwood.

The room was pitch black.  
"H-Hello?" Milly said.  
The room must have been large, because her voice seemed to be swallowed in the dark.

Milly's little heart was beating hard as she took a few steps into the blackness. Against the wall, she felt cold stone. After a while, Milly decided it was best to return to her room. So carefully, but quicker than she descended, she went up the stairs, closed the door, and made her way back to the second floor and into her snug bed.  
She was excited about what she found and planned to return in the daytime to take a better look at that mystery room.

~

Octavia was swearing under her breath at Jean for doing something so stupid a week ago. Who would ask a teacher who barely knows them for a pass into the restricted section of the library? The fact Headmistress McGonagall was summoning her to the office was not helping her anger cool. And Jean was usually a smart one.

The password to enter the staircase to the headmistress's office was 'kitty cat'. Once there was access, Octavia took her time going into the top office.

This was not Octavia's first trip to this office. A trip was expected maybe once or twice a year; but never this early. Octavia didn't have time to do anything wrong, so if she was taking a rap for Jean's stupidity then Jean was not going to be in a good condition.

"Hello, Octavia," McGonagall said.  
She was sitting behind her desk in the circular office.  
The room was rather calm. There were books, portraits of other headmasters and headmistresses; the color scheme was rather dark with red accents. It reminded Octavia of a widowed grandmother.  
"Hello, Professor," Octavia said as she took a seat.  
"I understand you've have some big changes this summer, Miss Greengrass. Or do you prefer Miss Malfoy?"  
A wave of relief rushed over Octavia that this wasn't about Jean's lack of tact.

"Greengrass, thank you. I'm Octavia Greengrass," Octavia said confidently.  
"I see you have inherited your father and grandfathers… confidence."  
"I've been told that."  
"Let my cut to the chase, Miss Greengrass. How are things with your father?"  
"Fine. But may I ask, how do you know I'm with my father… and why did you call me here?"  
McGonagall looked right at Octavia.  
"Your mother sent me a letter just before school began."  
"Oh," Octavia said as she slightly sunk into her seat.  
"Did you father want to see you?"  
"He didn't know we existed."  
"Of course, your sister Mildred. She'll be attending in a few years, correct?"  
"Yes, Professor."  
"Octavia, are there any problems at home?"  
"Why do you ask?"  
"I just have your wellbeing at heart. I taught your parents and grandparents."  
Octavia narrowed her eyes a bit and asked, "Do you think my parents aren't good parents?"  
"I mean I want to know your father isn't overwhelmed but suddenly having two children."  
"He's fine. Grandmother and Grandfather help."  
McGonagall could tell nothing more would come out of her conversation with the student. She dismissed her.  
Octavia, now in an even sourer mood, simply went to her common room, disregarding she had a class left before the school day was done.

~

Draco had been thinking. Moreover, he was thinking about what his mother asked. About Astoria. It dawned on him that not only did he know nothing about how his children were raised, but rather he took no alarm to the poor state their mother was in when he did see her.

"Milly?" Draco asked as he went into his daughters room.  
She was playing with some dolls on her bed while Baby snoozed in his cage.  
"Hi, Daddy," Milly said and smiled at him.  
Draco couldn't help but smile at his little girl. No sooner did Draco sit on her bed did Milly come over and sit on his lap.  
"Can I ask you some things?" he asked.  
"Sure!"  
"Do you like living here, with me and your grandparents?"  
"Of course."  
Milly flashed a cheeky smile.  
"Did you like living with your mother?"  
"It was alright. During the summer Octavia took care of me, during the winter Mum stayed in more."  
"Not in the summer?"  
"In the summer Mum was often out. But during the school year she needed to stay with me."  
"Where did you live?"  
"In a small house. I had my own room like here!"  
"Was your mum nice to you?"  
"She was fun! We'd play games and stuff."  
Draco patted his daughter on the back before leaving. Something wasn't right. And Draco intended to find out.


	9. Chapter 9

Soon the October winds began to howl and chill the lands. The family wrote Octavia letters, Narcissa sent her home baked sweets and Milly asked question after question about school.

But it was Draco who was most taken by the Halloween month. His little Milly had her birthday in June before they met. That meant sometime in October she was conceived. Something with that Milly said, and how Astoria was made Draco suspicious.

While at work and on his downtime, he tried to find Astoria. Draco knew people in different areas of the Ministry and asked them to help.

It was very difficult.

Astoria was not living like the pure blood she was. She was untraceable. No one knew where she was. No one heard from her. It was as if she had disappeared.

"Anything?"  
"I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy. I don't see anything on Astoria Greengrass in the last few years," said a curly redhead witch who was working in a room where records were kept.

"What about… what about St. Mungo's? Birth records?"  
The witched opened a drawer and tapped over different folders for a while until she pulled out a file.  
"Here we go. Octavia Greengrass and Mildred Circe Greengrass. Born a good few years apart. No father listed."  
Draco took hold of the files and read them over. Both girls were healthy and born on time. Both had no father listed. He thought for a moment before asking about the last known location of Astoria's sister, Daphne.  
Draco wasn't surprised when he saw that the elder Greengrass sister lived in a very nice home in a very wizarding area of the land.  
He swallowed hard when he finally knocked on the door around 5 PM.  
When the door opened, there stood Daphne herself.

She was a bit taller than her sister, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Her eyes were narrowed when she realized who was at her door.  
"Leave," she said simply, but stern-like.  
"I just need to talk."  
"I don't care."  
"It's about Astoria-"  
"Here to leave her without another child?"  
"-and the girls."  
Daphne quieted when she heard what he said. Reluctantly, she let Draco into her home. They both too a seat in her living area.  
"You have a lovely home," Draco said awkwardly.  
"What's wrong with the girls?"  
"Nothings wrong… but I need to speak to your sister."  
"You said this was about the girls," Daphne hissed.  
"It sort of is. You see, something about what Milly said… it gave me a weird feeling. I just need to talk to Astoria. Do you know where she is?"  
"No."  
Her answer was simple and flat.  
"But you're her sister. You have no idea?"  
Daphne sighed in annoyance.  
"My sister is very ill. She has many problems. I often took care of Octavia and Milly when she was off with who knows who doing who knows what. I tried to shelter them, I could only do so much."  
"Why didn't you tell me!?"  
"You weren't around! I had no idea where you were or if you even knew! In fact, Astoria never said you were the father!"  
Draco was silenced.  
"It was obvious who was the father, but she never directly said it was you. She had a lot of problem after Milly was born."  
"After?"  
"I don't know what it was," Daphne suddenly sneered when she said, "Maybe the fact you were gone again and leaving with yet another little baby. But something. She was alright with just Octavia."  
"My poor Milly…" Draco whispered in heartbreak.

Daphne seemed to take pity on him, but not enough to let him gather himself or ask more questions.  
"I'm afraid you need to leave now. I'm not telling you more. If you want to find my sister; try the Leaky Cauldron. She fancies the booth in the corner."


	10. Chapter 10

Draco got home late that night and left for work early. He hadn't seen his family at all. Rather, he worked as fast as he could through lunch and then went straight for the Leaky Cauldron.  
The booth Daphne said that her sister enjoyed was vacant. But Draco knew there was a certain woman who would know.  
"Excuse me?" Draco asked Hannah Longbottom as she washed a table.  
It was clearly obvious that she didn't like Draco or liking him in her inn.  
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"  
"I was wondering… that booth over there, in the corner. Does a certain woman frequent it?"  
"Yes, actually. Poor woman and I don't mean that in just figures. She sometimes rents a room with her children. Well, she rents one room and crams all three of them. I don't bug them about it."  
"Will she be here today?"  
Hannah shrugged and said, "Maybe. She often comes in the colder months to warm up. Order some tea and sit in her booth."  
"Won't she leave if I'm there?" Draco asked.  
"This place was once packed wall to wall. I couldn't serve people fast enough, every table filled. She sat down at her table with a small family already there. Needless to say, I didn't charge them for her meal."  
Willing but reluctant, Draco did order a cup of tea and sat down at the booth. He looked at his watch.  
The next time he saw his watch was five cups of tea later and two hours past. Draco was about to lose hope, when there she was. In she came, as shabby and ill-looking as both Daphne described and Draco remembered from their last meeting. And just as Hannah said, Astoria sat right down across from him.  
"I'm not takin' the girls back," Astoria said.  
"Let me buy you a cup of tea."  
"I'd prefer all the nappies I needed when the girls were wee youngin's."

"Astoria, what happened with you? How did you raise our girls?"  
"MY girls! MY girls!" Astoria shrieked.

"Can I get a cup of tea here?"  
Hannah sneered as she went to make a cup of tea.

"Tell me Astoria, did you even care how you raised them?" Draco's tone went stone cold and serious.  
"I raised MY girls to the best of my…situation. Lookit the girls! Octavia is smart and fine, and Milly is good."  
Draco sighed and for a moment had in head in his hands.  
"Astoria, something isn't right. Something. I want you to tell me: did you ever do anything to the girls?"

"Humph. I didn't do nothin' wrong. My girls are fine."  
Hannah brought a tea cup over. Draco paid Hannah and insisted that Astoria drink it. She eventually did, slurping down each sip.

It wasn't in Draco's nature to buy tea for the local destitute, but he remembered a time that he really loved Astoria.  
After she finished, she said she had nothing more to say and left, not even thanking him for the warm drink.

Draco, however, did not leave. Rather, he reminissed on his past.  
Astoria was a year younger than Draco (Daphne was his year) and they never really had anything special until just before the Battle of Hogwarts. She got friendly and Draco found her a perfect pure blood. But of course; there was the task that Dark Lord assigned. So the next time they actually got to talk was when Draco returned to school.  
Lucius and Narcissa weren't thrilled with Astoria, but with what just shook their entire world, they elder Malfoy's knew they were in no place to criticize people, especially if that criticism was based off blood.

Draco remembered that they played house for a bit. Astoria and Daphne's parents, also not exactly happy their child was with a Malfoy (especially at that time), bought a small house for them. Lucius, of course, managed to secure Draco a job at the Ministry.

Everything was going great… until the rips in their relationships began to grow deeper, and deeper and deeper.

While he hadn't finished his mental time travel, Draco snapped out of it when he heard the inn suddenly swell with activity. It was now getting much darker, and he figured it was best to return home.

"Where have you been?" sneered Lucius as he saw Draco return home.  
"I was-"  
"Daddy!"  
Milly, already in her nightgown, came running over to Draco and hugged him.  
"Hello, Milly," Draco said as he patted his girl on her blonde head.

"Well, Draco? Where have you been?" Lucius said, taking advantage of knowing Milly would also want to know.  
"Yea, Daddy!"  
"I went to see your Mother, actually."  
Lucius cocked an eyebrow.

"Mummy! How is she? Does she miss me? Can I see her?" Milly asked, and asked and asked.

Draco crouched down to Milly's level and said, "How about… you go to your room, and I'll explain everything once I tell Grandfather."  
"Okay!" Milly exclaimed and excitedly ran up to her room.  
"What did you do, boy?" Lucius asked.  
"I don't think she raised our girls correctly-"  
"Oh do you think? Did you she how she behaved!? How she looked?? Did you she tell you anything?"  
"No. She said she did her best. I think… my gut tells me something happened."|  
Lucius sighed," Maybe your gut should write to Octavia."  
Draco didn't know if his father was trying to give genuine advice or was being sarcastic, but it was a good idea. But before he could get quill to parchment, he had to explain to his daughter something.  
So while Milly was playing with some dolls on her bed, Draco tried to explain as best as he could.  
"Your mum isn't exactly… healthy… right now."  
"Ill? Maybe I should make her some soup? Octavia does that for me when I'm sick."  
"That's… very sweet of you, Milly. But… your mum needs to heal on her own."  
"What does that mean?"  
"Your mother loves both you and Octavia very much… but you need to understand that… well some things you may not understand until your older."  
Milly crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.  
"That's what Mum and Octavia tell me. C'mon! I'm not a baby!"  
"I know your not. You're becoming a big girl. But some things you need to be a bigger girl to understand. Do you understand?"  
Even with the tangle of words her father just threw at her, Milly reluctantly said she did understand. Draco kissed the top of her forehead and went to his own room to start his letter to Octavia.


	11. Chapter 11

It was Saturday when Octavia received Draco's letter. Rather than read it right when Octavius flew it to her over breakfast, she tucked it away back in her chest in by her bed.

Today, she had more important things to do.  
Octavia met Carson in the library. He was talking to Balinda who (as Ravenclaw style mandates) had her face in a book (on a school subject she wasn't taking).

"Come on, Balinda," Carson said.  
"I- I don't know I can…."  
Octavia found reading the girl easier than most of her school books. Balinda was torn between her company and her position to the school.  
"As Head Girl you obviously have the schools trust… not to mention with all your school classes no one would be suspicious…" Carson trailed off.  
Octavia sat next to Balinda and put an arm around her shoulder.  
"Balinda, we need this. We need _you_," Octavia said.  
A small smile appeared on Balinda's face. She was needed, and she knew it.  
"A-alright. I'll see what I can do. But it can't be all of you," she warned.  
"That's fine. Jean and myself then."  
"Alright."  
Octavia patted Balinda on the arm before leaving her and Carson in the library.

Her next stop was to finally read the letter from her father.  
Through the cold stone hallways, into the dark common room under the lake, there was a certain feeling of power that came to Octavia when she was in the Slytherin common room. Something about being in a house of such power, prestige, and fear. Something only a select few could manage.  
Octavia's bed was between Jean and Marissa who were nowhere in sight. Being alone in that room, Octavia sat on her bed and opened the letter with a fancy letter 'M' stamped over the envelope.

_Octavia,  
I have questions for you about your mother. Please tell me about her and how she raised you and Milly. It's important._

Draco.

Octavia sneered at the letter. She didn't like people brining up her mother. Octavia put the letter back in her trunk. Not only did she not want to answer the letter, but she needed to get changed and be someplace.

It was chilly out. Not too cold, but defiantly October.

Octavia was dressed in her Quiddich practice clothes which did keep her a bit warmer than her usual robes. Octavia was smart.  
Astoria didn't like Quiddich. She rambled about it; how the players were no good. But it was a favorite activity of Octavia. Rather than have her mother take the broom that she saved up and bought, Octavia stowed her broom at school for the summer.

True, she was a bit out of practice, but she was sure there wouldn't be any real talent that could beat her (partially because she was a beater herself).

Octavia got to the field fashionable late.  
One thing that Octavia could count on was good ol' Slytherin favoritism.  
The team paid little attention to players who wanted to take positions already secured by a high performing player from the year before (and such if a person trying out was accepted, then the standards for next year where only much higher). They only paid mind to the people trying out to positions they were guaranteeing to replace players in.

A harsh system, but a very favorable for Octavia who didn't have the time or resources to practice over summer.  
And yet, she still had to be there to 'try out' so none of the turned away called foul pickings.

There were only two new people trying out to be a beater.  
The Slytherin captain was busy with the others, so Octavia took over trying them out. They were alright, but not enough to be chosen over her. Maybe when she graduated they would have a shot (assuming no one better tried).

It was a while before all the try outs were completed. When they finally did end, the Slytherin captain pulled everyone in a group and listed off the players.  
Of course, Octavia made the team.  
A smug look of satisfaction came across her face. As she expected, no one was replaced. While fishy looking to other houses, it wasn't illegal in game.

It was nearing lunch when Octavia went to her dorm and changed back into her normal school wear and finally found the nerve to answer her father's letter.

_Father, _

_She raised us fine. Or rather I raised us fine. It's done. No more reason to dwell on it._

_Oh; and I made the Quiddich team. I'm a beater._

O.


	12. Chapter 12

"She's a _what_?"  
Lucius was very taken aback when Draco told the family that his daughter was on the house team.  
"Yay! She made the team again!" exclaimed Milly.  
"She's played before?" Draco asked.  
"Oh yea. She's been on the team since her second year."

Draco was a little dumbfounded. His own daughter and he never had a hint. Even though her favorite teams were covering her rooms wall.  
"She's really good; even when she doesn't practice," Milly said.  
"What do you mean, dear?" Narcissa asked as the two sat down next to each other on the sofa.  
"Mum didn't like Quiddich. She got mad when Octavia talked about it. So she never told Mum she was on the team. She left all her Quiddich stuff at school for summer."

~

"Who's going to win this game?"

"Slytherin!"  
"Who's going to be sent back crying?"  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Who's going to know they aren't Quiddich material?"  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Who is going to be the best?"  
"Slytherin!"

There was high pride when the first game of the season came around. Everyone was ready. And more importantly, everyone was eager to show Gryffindor they weren't the Minister's gift to Quiddich.

The stands were packed with students and the staff. But along with them, were two familiar, but unwanted faces.  
Lucius and Draco pulled some strings and decided to sit in on Octavia's first game. She wasn't happen when Draco sent her a letter a few days ago saying they were coming, but she eventually figured it was a good way to show off to her grandfather.

"Alright, let's go!" Captain Montague finally said as they marched seriously out of the locker room and onto the field.

"It's a bea-utiful for the first game of the season between Gryffindor and Slytherin!"

The students roared with excitement when Les Jordan (son of Lee Jordan, of course) finished the introduction and the teams began to enter the field.

"For the Gryffindor team are; Captain Wood, Robins, Weasley, Weasley, Thomas, Grime and Potter!"

Draco sneered as the last boy was classed, but also surprised at the double Weasley name.  
On the field he could see easily who was who. Most of the players were the children of old team members from Draco's time. He didn't know who Grime was, although she looked like a very lean girl. The Weasley's were twins, but a boy and girl with medium skin and brown hair with a little red. And of course Potter. He looked just like Harry; but with a few stray freckles, hazel eyes and no lightning bolt star.

The Gryffindor team took positions on their brooms in the air.

"For the Slytherin team are; Captain Montague, Flint, Greengrass, Vaisly, Cunningham, Wellboy, Higgs!"

Octavia was the only girl on the team, but by looking at her she looked just as strong, and just as determined.

They too took positions on the air and waited for the whistle to blow.

"Ready…. Go!"

The balls were in play and the seekers were already zooming by trying to get the snitch. Octavia took position with fellow team beater (and captain) Montague. Lucius was actually impressed with the strength Octavia had to smack the bludger to the other team. But the Weasley's were no pushovers; they were decent competition.

"There go seekers James Potter and Rugby Cunningham! It's very close…. Oh Potter has- wait never mind!"

Lucius and Draco watched the game carefully, both genuinely impressed with Octavia and the teams ability. Draco recognized all too well Potter's seeking strategy as it was very similar to his father's.  
As a player, Octavia was a very capable player. She was fast, strong, a communicator and merciless.

"Flint, move!" Octavia roared as she powerfully sent a bludger to the other team, narrowly avoiding the other teams chaser.

Each team made a few leaps and bounds points wise until finally Slytherin team was ahead. It was a narrow lead, and the seekers were still buzzing about. Both teams were tiring even with the school chanting and cheering.

It wasn't until the Slytherin seeker, Flint, finally caught the snitch that the team took a sigh. However, there was some minor commotion over if the catch was legal, seeing how Flint leaped off his broom to catch it. But he did catch it. And it was ruled legal.

"Slytherin wins the first game of the season!" Les exclaimed as both teams came down from the sky.

"You did a really good job," Draco said to Octavia when they met near the stands.  
"Thanks. It was close, but we won."  
"You seem to be a natural beater," Lucius said.  
"Thanks. Sorry, but I need to go shower and change. Thanks for coming," Octavia said as she went to her locker room.

"Why do you think Astoria hates Quiddich? I mean Octavia is brilliant," Draco asked his father as they prepared to go back home.  
"Perhaps because you were an avid Quiddich player," Lucius suggest lazily.


	13. Chapter 13

The days following the Slytherin Quiddich victory were rainy and soggy ones, and not just at Hogwarts.

Narcissa had written Octavia about how anxious and bored Milly was. Octavia told her Grandmother to let Milly run around in the rain, get cold and soggy, and then she'd be fine until the next big rain. Narcissa did let Milly have a wet run, but couldn't help but cringe when the little girl came in tracking mud all the way to the bathroom.

Octavia, however, wasn't running around in rain as she would if she was with her sister. Rather, she was with Jean (and Balinda) in the library.  
It seemed appropriate the weather outside was dark and gloomy, seeing how the reason they were in the library wasn't exactly peachy or pleasant.

Madame Pince glared at the handwritten letter Balinda handed her for the three to enter the restricted section of the library.

"And why all three of you?" the decrepit looking woman asked.  
"I'm Head Girl, and my professor thought it was best that I be with them," Balinda said, her voice very shaky.  
Madame Pince looked very suspicious, but Balinda was Head Girl, after all and the signature was real… so reluctantly, the three girls were allowed in.  
The entire section was much more sinister feeling than the rest o the library. It was much darker, the air was stale, and the books were older looking.  
"Here," Octavia said as she went down a line of books.  
"What are you looking for?" Balinda asked nervously.  
Jean gave her a sharp look and asked Balinda to go a few rows down.  
"Here's something," Octavia said as she slid her fingers down a few books spines until she finally stopped at a particularly thick book.  
She pulled the book from the shelf and put it down on a nearby, dusty table. Jean flicked her wand to have a lit tip to help her friend. Octavia flipped through the table of contents until she finally found a page that looked promising.  
"Jean, look at this."  
Jean came closer and quickly skimmed the text of page 346.

"I think this is it," Octavia said.  
"You think?"  
"Yes, but we can't read it here. Let's take it," Octavia said in a low voice, not trusting Balinda to keep quiet if she was in ear shot.  
Jean nodded with a serious face and slipped the large book into her oversized school bag. True, width of the bag was a bit larger, but it was hardly noticeable.

"Balinda?" Octavia hissed as she and Jean were about to leave.  
"Here!" she squeaked as she came over, clutching a few heavy books.  
"I didn't- I didn't know what you wanted… but I found a great book about defending against dark magic… oh and here is one about ancient dark wizards…and this one-"  
"Drop them," Jean said simply, if not a bit annoyed.  
"Alright…" Balinda said quietly and did as she was told, putting the stack down.

____  
Surprisingly, the Slytherin girls dorm was unusually warm and snuggly. Both Jean and Octavia had changed into comfortable night clothes and were looking over the book Jean stole.  
"What does it say?" Octavia asked.  
"It says that it's one of the darkest inventions known to wizards…"  
Octavia perked up a bit and asked Jean to read more.  
"There's a list of directions here… but…"  
"What!?" exclaimed Octavia, very, very intrigued.  
"It requires a spell that looks easy enough… but it also requires another thing…."  
"_Well_?"  
"Murder."


	14. Chapter 14

"…Murder?" Octavia asked, slightly dumbfounded.  
The two girls looked at each with a sullen expression.

"… I knew it would be harsh…but murder?" Octavia murmured.

"It's…. the only way…" Jean said, almost pitifully.  
Octavia would hear no more of the matter at that time. When Jean tried to bounce ideas off Octavia, all she received in return was a nasty hiss of disapproval.  
Jean knew Octavia since they began school. And she was smart enough to know when Octavia was finished; she was finished. Rather than upset her friend, Jean excused herself to the common room, leaving Octavia alone.

The purple-haired girl flipped through the book and was in awe of the dark magic it contained. She has no idea that dark magic could sink so low. She had no idea and was terrified… but intrigued…..

___________

"But Daaaaddy…!"  
"Daddy's sorry, Milly, but Daddy has work to do."  
Draco usually loved when Milly would greet him after work when he was in his room at his desk working. But today was a bit different.

"Daddy has work to do," Draco said, almost pleading with the little girl to understand.  
"But it's been days! We haven't done anything! You're always out!" Milly folded her arms.  
"Milly," Draco looked closely at his daughter, "I'm trying to find your Mum. Remember when I said she needs to heal on her own?"  
"Yes."  
"Well… I need to….remind her of a few things…"  
Draco felt awkward about lying to his daughter, but he was getting desperate. He needed to speak to Astoria. There were too many questions with too few answers.  
Milly sighed and went to sit on her father's lap.  
"Octavia said Mum did bad things," Milly said quietly.  
"What kind of bad things?" Draco asked.  
Milly began to sniffle, but she did say, "She never told me. She said she'd tell me when I was older."  
Milly then looked up at Draco and with tears asked, "Why doesn't Mum love us anymore?"  
"Oh no, Milly, it's not that. Your Mum loves you very much," Draco said, holding his daughter close.  
Milly began to cry softly into his chest.  
There was only two things Draco was feeling, and both things he never thought he would feel: the saddest of sad that his baby was sad, and as angry as he ever was to know someone made her that way.  
"Milly…? Do you think…Octavia would tell me what Mum did?"  
"M-Maybe…" Octavia said as she used a loose part of Draco's shirt to wipe her eye."  
"How about we write her a letter? You and I?" Draco suggested.  
"Okay," Milly said quietly.  
Draco turned his chair into his desk and dipped his quill into an ink pot and asked, "What should we say?"

___________  
Just as if Milly's own misery needed company, ever since Octavia looked through that book she was very downtrodden. She was downtrodden. She was skipping Quiddich practices, lagging in her work (and having Balinda help her get by) and not eating well. It was actually Marissa who, while stuffing her face at dinner one night, suggested that Octavia had a problem.  
"I'm fine," Octavia said irritably.

Marissa was not what one would call 'smart'; but rather intuitive. Octavia knew this; and rather than deal with an onslaught of questions, left the Hall.

It was getting dark, and curfew would soon be approaching. But Octavia couldn't care less about silly school rules.

The book from the restricted section had taken a toll on her the last few days as she contemplated what she had read. By no means was Octavia weak-kneed when it came to death; after all, as duelist she was fine with the idea of defeating someone if need be. But something about murder… killing someone when they did nothing… struck a nerve.  
Under the starlit sky Octavia assented to the owlery where she knew she would be alone. While the owls were as lively as ever; Octavia found solace there.

"Hey, Octavius," said Octavia blandly as she stood next to where her grumpy-looking owl perched.  
The owl gave what looked to be a nod of notice that she was there and began to ruffle his feathers. It wasn't until Octavia found his actions annoying did she take a closer look at his leg. A letter.  
Sadly, any hopes of perking up via the letter were quickly dashed.  
Draco did write a letter with Milly, and it in no way made Octavia feel better. Octavia took out her wand and angrily set the letter on fire after reading it (and rather than putting the smoldering parchment out like a witch she angrily stomped it until it was out).

She leaned on the sill of a large tombstone shaped opening used by the owls as an exit and entrance and looked at the sky.

"Dammit, Mum," she said bitterly.  
It was only when Milly brought it up or Milly asked questions did Octavia truly reflect on her mother. How things were, and how things were before they slipped. As much as her father grew on her, as much as she began to soften to her grandparents, and as much as Milly loved her new family; Octavia didn't consider Draco close enough to divulge her secrets about Astoria.

Rather; she would wait. She would wait as Draco dug deeper and wait until Draco could handle what she had to say. Much like the book cast a dark shadow over Octavia, she knew that if Draco knew what she did that an even darker shadow would be cast over her father.


	15. Chapter 15

Even Quiddich didn't help to perk Octavia up; even if they had an alright run, only complaint would be that her team lost, to Hufflepuff, by Christmas break.

"Are you alright?" Marissa asked on their final dinner before school ended for the holidays.  
"_Yes_, Marissa, I am. I have more important things to worry about," Octavia sneered.

Marissa looked dumbly at Carson who just continued to eat.

"…If you want to drop it; we can," Jean said.  
"No…no. We've put too much on the line. And honestly," Octavia leaned in, "I have something I want to try."

Octavia had a put a lot of thought into things in the past few weeks; and thought it was finally time to tell her father the secret that she held so dear.

It didn't really seep in that she would be telling her father probably the darkest secret she had until the Hogwarts Express finally stopped at Kings Cross.  
"I'll try and learn more… all of us will," Jean said before she disappeared with her things in a crowd of other students leaving.  
Herself, Carson, Marissa and Balinda followed suit but splintered off at a point to meet their families.  
"Octavia!"  
Octavia couldn't help but smile wide as she heard her little sister excitedly call for her. The little blonde girl in pigtails ran quickly through a minor crowd and hugged her sister tightly.  
"Hey, you! How are you, Milly?" Octavia asked.  
"Good!"  
Milly excitedly told Octavia all the doings of Malfoy Manor as the two sisters went back to meet the Malfoys.

"Only a few months away and you already look a bit older," Narcissa said in a very grandmotherly way.  
"Thank you, Grandmother," Octavia said.  
"How had school been?" Lucius asked as the entire family made way of the busy station.  
"Fine, everything is fine. Classes are good and challenging."  
"Make any friends?" Draco asked.  
"I have my own," Octavia said.

Things didn't change too much by dinner. Everyone sat around the table, asking Octavia for news and stories from school. Octavia, not wanting to show any stress, casually tossed back her stories and what Lucius and Draco wanted to hear.

"I should be getting O's in all my classes, plus Quiddich has been going great. Who knows? Maybe I'll be the captain next year."  
Octavia grew a bit more anxious as the night drew on. Narcissa let Milly stay up late so the girls could catch up in person, and it was a good idea for both of them. Narcissa couldn't help but play the caring grandmother and peeked in on the girls in Octavia's room for a moment. Milly was ready for bed but the two were laying on the floor over some pillows laughing with Octavia doing some magic she learned in school like summoning things toward her or refilling Milly's drinking glass. It warmed Narcissa's heart.

"Lucius?" Narcissa called gently as she entered the master bedroom where her husband lay in bed, reading.  
"Narcissa?"  
Narcissa walked over and sat on the bed beside her husband.  
"I think Octavia is a great granddaughter."  
Lucius, a bit surprised by his wife's random mention, agreed.  
"I'm serious, Lucius. Have you seen the way she acts toward Milly? She practically raised the girl. And her studies are well taken care of and her aims are high."  
"Yes, yes, she truly is a Malfoy," Lucius said without much attention being paid to his wife.  
Narcissa smiled a bit and kissed her husband on the cheek, she knew how he got when he was enthralled in a good book.

It was around 9:45 at night when Milly finally fell asleep in Octavia's room. The older sister gently picked her sister up and tucked her into the bed and then went to look for Draco.  
"Dad?" Octavia called downstairs.  
"Yes, Octavia?" Draco had come out of one of the rooms, and now was at the foot of the grand staircase.  
"I need to talk to you. I know its cold, but can we walk outside?"

Draco and Octavia were freezing outside, but they knew walking would help heat them up… not to mention calm Octavia's nerves.

"I need you to know something, why Mum went off and crazy," Octavia said.  
"You shouldn't talk about your mother that way…" Draco said, but even he knew his tone was unbelievable.  
"She is crazy… and I know why."  
Draco turned and looked down at his daughter who was a few inches shorter than he himself.

"Octavia, you need to tell me."  
"For a while, Mum was like any other mum. She cooked, cleaned worked, maintained the home and everything."  
"Yes, what happened?"  
It was beginning to snow. Octavia rubbed her hands over her head to melt a few flakes.

"I was about 10. I remember this time because this was the beginning of the end…" Octavia trailed off, stuffed her hands in her pockets, but soon continued, "She was really happy, something about a letter. She sent me to spend a few days with Aunt Daphne. It was fun."  
Draco stayed silent and started to think hard, something was poking at his memory.  
"I came home after a few days, and Mum wasn't so happy. She was really sad…but perked up after a while. And then she told me."  
"Told you what?"  
Octavia's eyes narrowed and she said simply, "She was expecting."  
Draco stopped dead in his tracks. It was all swirling back.  
He remembered that time; He had gotten rather successful in the Ministry and wanted to see if he could maybe get back together with Astoria, maybe even marry her. It became very apparent that marriage was never in the cards. After a night or so of passion; the fighting started and drove them apart; just as it did before.  
"Everything was fine, though," Octavia said, as if she didn't just drop a bombshell, "But around the time I started school, it began to change. She started to lose interest in not just us, but everything…! The house, herself, working…"  
"I didn't know…" was also Draco could say, not able to finishing his thoughts.  
"That's not the worst of it"  
The two began walking and the snow fall began to get a bit heavier.  
"I was home for spring holiday. I was about 13 and Milly was two. I was at home in my room doing whatever when I heard Milly crying. I knew Mum was off her rocker, or at least getting there, so I went down to look. I saw Milly, in the corner, with a gash on her head and Mum with her wand only an inch away from Milly's face."  
Draco was about to fall ill; physically ill.  
"She muttered something about blonde hair and our father. Needless to say I was crying like a baby. I don't really remember what else happened, except that Milly and I shared a bed that night and I made sure Mum wasn't alone with her until I left school."  
"Octavia…" Draco was speechless.  
He could see the anger in Octavia's eyes. Not only the anger of watching her baby sister almost be killed by their own mother; but at him for not being there.  
"I had to protect Milly whenever I could. I told Aunt Daphne from school and I knew she took Milly for a while… but we always ended back up with Mum. Sometimes we were living in our little home or Mum would put us up at the Leaky Cauldron while she was out doing Merlin knows what."  
The two had almost lapped the entire mansion by the time Octavia's story finished. It was her who pardoned herself from their conversation to go to bed and get out of the cold nights snow. Draco stayed out. He cleared off a few centimeters of snow on a bench near Narcissa's roses and sat down, the cold going through the fabric of his pants.  
"How could I let this happen…" Draco trailed off, tears forming in his eyes and his head in his hands.  
"Everything that went wrong… was because of me…"


	16. Chapter 16

The holiday season was anything but jolly for Octavia and Draco.  
She thought that telling her father about Astoria would make her feel better; but it made her feel shamed. For so long she didn't speak a word of her mother to anyone, not even Jean or the others. Even if Draco was her father and the ultimate cause of her mother's madness, she felt shamed. Regardless; she put on a happy front for Milly and the others.  
Draco was very similar feeling. He shamed that he left his babies when they needed him. He stayed up night after night staring at his ceiling wondering why Astoria never said anything about the girls. He would have been there, in some way. Maybe if he was Milly wouldn't have been in that position? He thought about Milly most of all. What could have happened when she was alone with her mother; what the little girl remembered or what she repressed?

On December 25, at seven AM, the sun was barely clearing over the horizon, but Milly, as bubbly as ever, was already up and knocking on doors.  
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas!"  
Lucius couldn't help but mumble in annoyance as he was being tugged by his sleeve by his youngest granddaughter.

"C'mon Grandfather! Grandmother… presents!"  
"Yes, yes, dear," Narcissa said happily as she sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her eyes, "Presents down by the tree."  
Octavia and Draco soon followed Milly and the elder Malfoy's down to a large decorated tree very classically with a large golden start at the top. Little ornaments flew around the pine needles and little angles began to sing gently when they saw the family enter the room.  
Everyone sat down together and, as customary, Lucius sat in his large chair. He was surprised Milly had the courage to actually walk over and sit on his lap without asking.  
"This one's for… Milly," Draco said with a smile as he handed a little box to his blonde daughter.  
Milly smiled wide and ripped off the wrappings. Inside was a scarf; in Ravenclaw colors.  
"Just like the smart people!"  
Draco smiled, even if Lucius gave him an odd look as if saying _'Since when is she a Ravenclaw?'_.

It took some time, but all the gifts were eventually passed out, even some from Octavia. Even in all her upset she had the mind to purchase some things for the family.

By ten Narcissa was getting brunch ready while Octavia and Milly brought their gifts to their rooms. Lucius and Draco were alone to talk.  
"Father, what did you think of Astoria?"  
"Before or after this past summer?"  
"Before," Draco said in minor frustration.  
"She seemed to be an ordinary pure blood girl; true, not my favorite; but a pure blood… so I suppose your choice of mothers wasn't completely horrible."  
Draco tried not to sigh at his fathers' one sidedness. Even after the war and all the problems his beliefs got him into; he was still true to pure blood loyalty. True, Lucius was not as vocal (at least not outside the home), but his loyalties to blood were still very deep.

Upstairs, Milly and Octavia were once again in the older girls' room playing and fiddling with their items. Among Milly's gifts were: the Ravenclaw-esque scarf, a new doll, some new doll clothes, some hair accessories and, from Octavia, a large collection of candy from Honeydukes.  
Octavia's presents were: some new, finely made gloves, two books on the Wizengamot, quills and ink bottles, a long black (obviously from Narcissa) and, from Milly, a handmade Christmas card that someone enchanted to have the drawn pictures of Milly and Octavia to hug on loop.

It made Octavia feel nice. She was a bit uncertain about the day, uncertain she could fake her happy face, but now she didn't even have to fake it. She was genuinely happy. Happy that her sister was in fine health and had no memory of the worst of her mother.  
The family had a big brunch and even bigger dinner and afterwards spent time by the fire talking and laughing as if they had been together forever.  
It was very cold out and the ground outside had a decent dusting of snow. Milly fell asleep early (probably from bouncing around from near dawn) and was already snuggling against her dolls, both old and new. Octavia was in pajamas and was looking out her window.  
There was a low knock at the door. She turned to see Draco standing there.  
"Can I come in?" Draco asked.  
"Sure."  
Octavia was sitting on her bed and looking out the largest window in the room. Draco sat on the beds edge while Octavia was in the middle.  
"It looks cold out," Draco said.  
"I bet Mums freezing."  
"I'm sure she's warm."  
"Probably too drunk to find a fire."  
"Octavia?" Draco asked.  
"Hm?"  
"Do you want to know what happened between me and your mum?"  
There was no hesitation. Octavia turned from looking out the window to looking at her father.  
"Astoria was a year younger than I was. We knew each other but not really friends. But… a year before I finished school, in fact I was a little younger than you, I got into some things."  
"What things?"  
"Dark things."  
Octavia grew very offset by hearing that.  
"So… I was on the run for a while with another man, a professor in fact."  
"Why a professor?" Octavia asked.  
"He was deep into things as well. But regardless of him, after everything happened, I had to finish school. Of course, I did and that's when I got close to Astoria. We actually lost some contact when I graduated but eventually we got around to making you," Draco said bluntly.  
He didn't feel like sugar coating the details anymore. He wrestled with if he should tell Octavia this or not; but he felt that she deserved to know. Octavia listened carefully.

"We had some fights. We actually considered marriage. But it never happened. We never could be like that; I should have seen it. She never said anything about you. Even when we met up again and I tried to make it work. Nothing."  
"…She was ashamed of me," Octavia whispered.  
"No, no I'm sure that's not it."  
"What else could it be?" Octavia said, with an exasperated look on her face, "Why else would she sent me off?"  
"I don't know, but I'm sure she wasn't ashamed."  
If Draco didn't know any better, he could of sworn he saw his purple-haired daughter wipe a tear away.  
"…Octavia, I just need you to promise me one thing," Draco said.

"Don't do what I did at your age."  
"What was that?"  
Draco took a moment and seemed to state off into space for a bit before saying simply, "Trying to repeat wizarding history.".


	17. Chapter 17

"Be good at school!" Narcissa exclaimed to Octavia as she dragged her baggage and Octavius's cage to the Hogwarts Express.  
"I will! Take care, Milly!" Octavia exclaimed and waved to her sister.  
"Bye!" Milly cried with a smile.  
Somehow she managed to talk Draco into putting her on his shoulders.  
"Love you all!" Octavia said right before she got onto the train.

After going down the hall and peering into each compartment until she saw her friends.  
"Hey, everyone," Octavia said as she entered the compartment.  
The weather outside the train was a bit gloomy and very cold. The students quickly jumped right into their discussion from before the holidays.  
"We know everything. Now we just need to try it," Jean said.  
"But who… and on who… and with what?" Marissa asked.  
"Maybe I can do it?" Carson asked.  
Octavia and Jean looked at each other, not amused.  
"Carson; no," Octavia said flatly.  
Balinda just sat in her seat out of the conversation. She wasn't the slightest bit upset she was completely out of the conversation.  
"Look guys; I was thinking, and I think I know exactly how this is going to work," Octavia said.  
"How?" Marissa asked.  
Octavia turned toward Balinda, "You and Carson need to come up with a place we can use," Octavia turned toward Jean, "You, Marissa and myself will get everything ready."  
"Are you sure we should do this?" Carson asked.  
There was a long pause.  
"Yes, Carson, we should. Imagine it…" Octavia said.  
Everyone was silent for a moment; each thinking of something different.  
"We are going to go down in history…" Carson said.  
"What are we going to do once it's done?" Marissa asked.  
"I don't know," Octavia said simply.

It wasn't long before the entire school got back in the swing of school. Classes were attended, homework was given (and hopefully completed), and Quiddich resumed.

It was February 2nd when Octavia was in the library. She wasn't in the restricted section, but tucked away in the far corner from the entrance and Madame Pince's desk. She was casually looking over a book of Hogwarts to maybe help Balinda and Carson find a safe place. Octavia even managed to smuggle a small bag of cookies in and was relaxing. It was right after classes, and most the students were either in the front of the library or trying to avoid school work.  
Octavia had just finished her last cookie and chapter three when she felt a presence over her. She let out a very obvious sight of annoyance and looked up.  
"What?" she asked flatly.  
And who was standing in front of her? Why, none other than a certain black haired, arrogant, Gryffindor James Potter.

"Just wondered what you were doing here?" he asked snidely.  
"Reading. Ever try it?"  
"You're just as nice off the pitch as you are on."  
"I'm not mean, you're just weak."  
Octavia returned her eyes to her book and turned the page.  
"How about we go play some Quiddich? I'll try and show you what manners are," James offered.  
"No," Octavia sneered and went to get up, leaving the book and empty cookie bag.  
"Aren't you going to clean up?" James asked as Octavia walked away.  
Octavia said nothing, but rather flipped her middle finger in a rather obscene way to him.

_______

"Well, you and Balinda find anywhere?" Octavia asked Carson in the common room.  
"We actually did," Carson said.  
"Really? That fast?" Jean asked.  
"We were wandering around the seventh floor. We must have passed that picture of the trolls trying ballet when we found it. It was a large room; full of books and potions and potion materials," he explained.  
"That sounds familiar…" Octavia said.  
"Balinda said it was the Room of Requirement," Carson said.  
"That's it!" exclaimed Octavia, "It's perfect."  
"So when do we start?" Jean asked.  
"Does it matter?" Octavia asked.  
"Not from what I've read," Jean said.  
"Then this weekend, Saturday at noon. We'll all go together so we all get in," Octavia said, "Marissa. Marissa, you go find Balinda and tell her to meet us in front of the Great Hall, noon on Saturday."  
Marissa got up from where she was sitting and asked, "Where is she?"  
"Probably begging Professor Longbottom for extra work," Jean said.  
They all shared a laugh.


	18. Chapter 18

No one in the group said a word about Saturday during the week. They went to lessons, the Quiddich match (Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw) and went on as if nothing was planned.  
The only thing Octavia was not happy about was that Potter boy.  
He seemed to always pop up when Octavia was alone.  
"Dammit, Potter!" Octavia hissed on one of their meetings.  
"I see you still have no manners. But tell me, what are you doing?" he asked.  
"Walking, genius."  
"No, I mean what are you doing for real? I see you and your posse, always sneaking about with the Ravenclaw girl."  
"None of your business. I know you Gryffindors find this concept foreign, but butt out," Octavia said finally and hurried away.  
James stood in the hall and cocked an eyebrow.  
None of Octavia's inner circle knew, but a few people were getting suspicious. James, among a few others, was noticing her posse sneaking around and whispering. But it was only James Potter who had the gall to go toward Octavia, who was obviously the leader, about it.  
He was determined to figure out what she and her friends were up to.

______

The hour on the day did finally arrive. As planned, everyone met in front of the Great Hall at noon.

"Is everyone ready?" Octavia asked.  
Everyone nodded and they all set off to the seventh floor, and, as before, after a few laps around desiring the room, it appeared.  
Inside it was just as Carson explained; dungeon-like with shelves of books and shelves of potions on the walls. Jean lit a few candles on the wall, and a pair of shackles became painfully obvious.

Octavia took a deep breath and said, "Alright. Let's go."  
Everyone sat down in the middle of the room and began to start what took months to plan. It didn't need to be said; but Octavia knew it was she who would be the center of the magic.  
Jean pulled out a thick book with everything they needed to do.  
"It's right here in black and white," Jean said as she handed the book over to Octavia.  
"Guys?" Balinda said nervously.  
Everyone gave her a cold look.  
"I don't know if we should do this."  
"No turning back," Carson said lowly.  
Balinda shifted her gaze down into her lap where she placed her hands.  
Octavia read over a few pages of the book she was given before, once again, Balinda piped up.  
"W-why are you doing this?"  
"Because… there is something I need to do. And… this will help me protect my sister…" Octavia said quietly.  
Everyone was silent as stone. No one dare questioned Octavia about her love for her sister.

"We'll need an object," Jean said and looked over to Octavia.  
Octavia, her eyes in the book, simply said in a strong, clear voice, "Accio Mildred Greengrass's doll."  
In seconds Milly's doll was right in Octavia's hands. The doll was very used, sub-par made, with stringy blonde hair, glossy brown eyes and wearing a fur coat (one of the presents Narcissa gave Milly for her doll at Christmas).

"I'm ready," Octavia said as she clutched the doll.  
She took her wand out and began to recite the passage in the book, "I, Octavia Greengrass, will surpass death. I, Octavia Greengrass, will bargain with the dark arts to fulfill my requests for everlasting life. I, Octavia Greengrass, will take the life of another, to keep a life forever."  
Balinda started to fidget. Octavia's wand began to glow a very misty, evil green. She looked at Jean, and then at Marissa. Carson drew his wand and soundproofed the room.  
In a moment, both Jean and Marissa took Balinda by the arms.  
"Wha-what are you doing!?" cried Balinda, tears beginning in her eyes.

"Sorry, Balinda," Octavia said as she walked over to where Balinda sat.  
Octavia sighed and whispered something that none of the kids had ever heard before.  
"Avada Kedavra."


	19. Chapter 19

Once the light had gone from Balinda's dull eyes something happened. There was a pale, almost invisible mist come from the dead girls mouth. Octavia brought the tip of the wand into the light mist and carefully acted as if she was moving it with her wand. She guided the mist to Milly's doll and the mist seemed to sink inside the doll. And yet; the toy remained unchanged, physically, at least.

Everyone looked at Octavia. Octavia had a temper, but she could also be cool under pressure. What her friends saw was neither. Something about her had just changed. Her skin seemed to grey a bit, her eyes lost some shine, and her expression was unreadable.  
"Are you alright?" Jean asked.  
"I'm fine. That was actually easier than I thought it would be," Octavia said coolly and picked up the doll to look it over.  
One may think that Balinda's death was spur of the moment. No, she was just about doomed to be the test subject of whatever the spell called for… just no one knew that, when they began to plan this, the loss would be of her life.  
It was when Octavia was about in her 4th year did Octavia learn what a 'horocrux' was. She was late for class, and overheard the Defense against the Dark Arts professor talking about them. Ever since You-Know-Who (as he was referred by the professors who lived through those dark times) Hogwarts did a bit of expanding on the Dark Arts as a preventive measure. Before, telling the students about the horrific consequences was thought to be too much for young minds. Now the Ministry thought it was best to scare them out of the craft. And for the most part; it worked.  
Since Tom Riddle no student fell under the allure of the Dark Arts. Until now.

"What should we do with her?" Carson asked as he looked uneasily at Balinda's body.  
"Leave her," Octavia said as she started toward the door.  
"Leave her?" asked Marissa.  
"Yes. Leave her."  
It was only Jean who challenged this decree.  
"Octavia, we need to do something better with her," she said.  
"What better place than here? Unless someone comes looking; no one will ever find her."  
"You don't think people won't look? She's Head Girl! I'm sure every knight and ghost in the castle will be searching and I'm sure McGonagall knows about this room and how to get to it."  
Octavia thought for a moment.  
"We need to fix this as an accident then."  
"How?" Carson asked.  
"You two," Octavia looked at Jean and Marissa, "You too put her body near the whomping willow tonight. Make it look like she was coming from the library or something."  
Octavia simply walked out after that. She didn't stay to hear any quips because she knew there would be none. Rather; she headed to the owlery to send Milly's doll back.

The next few days could only be described as completely dreadful for the entire school.  
"Students," Professor McGonagall mournfully on the rainy Saturday evening she called a sad meeting in the Great Hall, "It has come to my attention, that our school has had a most tragic of accidents."  
The students started to chatter.  
"Everyone…everyone!" The Headmistress cleared her throat, "I'm afraid a student has died at the hands of the whomping willow."  
Once more, students started to chatter, but more nervously.  
"The student," McGonagall said loudly and spoke normally only when the students were silenced, "was Balidna Bland; Head Girl, and final year Ravenclaw."  
Everyone began to chatter… again. But this time, the Headmistress allowed them for a bit.  
Octavia and her company said nothing and did not move. However, there was not only sadness for Balinda (even if most of the students had no idea who she was), but for Octavia as well. Among her inner circle, it was becoming clear something was happening to Octavia. She was changing (not so much physically as what happened right after the murder) emotionally.  
She seemed colder and quieter and defiantly harsher. Once she was prone to use Slytherin cunning and wit in social situations, now there was just either cold conversation or anger.

Once more, it was Jean who noticed Octavia's turn for the worst.  
The day after McGonagall's speech about Balinda, Jean met Carson and Marissa alone.  
"Something is wrong with Octavia," Jean said seriously.  
"We shouldn't have done that!" Carson exclaimed in panic.  
"Shut up!" hissed Jean, "I know that now. We need to tell someone."  
"Who?" Marissa asked.  
"…I don't know," Jean said, "But I think McGonagall is a good start."


	20. Chapter 20

McGonagall's expression was one of both deep set anger, and deep set fear.

"You…you students did what!?"  
Jean lowered her head and cringed. Marissa stared at the floor stupidly. Carson looked like he would jump from his seat in panic at any moment.

"I don't even know where to begin!" McGonagall roared.  
"We're sorry professor…!" said Jean, "We know it was a horrible, horrible mistake and-"  
"Mistake!? No, Miss Zabini, murder of a fellow student, a student who considered you a _friend,_ and the creation of possibly the darkest artifact known to wizard is not an accident!"  
"What can we do?" Jean asked, almost begging for an answer, "We need to help our friend."  
"You can pack your things! All of you! Expelled!"  
The students said nothing, but Jean bit her lip so hard it nearly began to bleed.  
"I'll be writing to your parents, the Ministry, and all the property authorities," McGonagall said, regaining a scrap of her composure.  
"Yes, Professor," Jean said in near whisper as she and the two other Slytherins left.  
"I- I can't believe it…" Carson said dumbly as they walked down the corridors.

"Believe it. We're done. But we have bigger problems…" Jean trailed off as they entered their common room.  
"Where have you guys been?"  
Right there, alone in the common room, was Octavia. But… something was wrong. Much more wrong than before.  
Her skin was even shallower than before, her hair had grown longer in an astounding amount of time and seemed thinner and more natural colored. Her eyes seemed to darken from a light grey to almost the color of steel.

"We were just in the Great Hall making some house-elves get us some food," Jean said coolly.  
Octavia looked at her, as if she was looking right through her friend.  
"I hope you haven't seen any of the professors," Octavia said coldly.

"Why would we?" Jean asked.

Octavia had seen she was beaten. Rather than fight a cold war she went off and out of the common room.  
"She knows," Marissa said bluntly.  
"She does. But it doesn't matter right now. Just pack up," Jean said as she started toward the girls' dorm.  
"And then what?" Carson asked.  
"Back to the headmistress."

____

"I can't believe you," McGonagall said almost mournfully as she wrote on some parchment on her desk.  
The three students had packed and went back to the headmistress's office.

"I've send letter to all of your families, and this one will be going to the ministry," the headmistress said, "How could you this? What- what could you ever see in the dark arts?"  
"We thought… Octavia-"  
"Don't think you can weasel all this on one person, Zabini," McGonagall said scornfully.

"I'm not trying to, Headmistress. But… it was Octavia who had something to gain. She wanted to protect her sister."  
"From whom?" the headmistress asked.  
Jean sighed and swallowed hard before explaining.  
"You see, Professor, Octavia wants to protect her sister. Octavia is deathly worried something will happen to Milly when she's away. So… we eventually figured out that if Octavia's soul was inside Milly's doll… then her little sister would always have some of her…"  
McGonagall sighed deeply.  
"You students don't understand the half of what you have done," she said, "Dark magic is not used a protector to anyone but the dark wizard. And even when it protects, it does harm."  
"…Octavia's transformation…" Carson mumbled.  
"Yes, Mr. Nott, Octavia's transformation. You see, to commit an act such as murder, your soul is damaged and to make a horocrux, you take part of your damaged soul… and split it. The soul inside the doll is not used to protect Milly. It's used to protect _Octavia_ in case something happens to _her_."  
"You mean like-"  
"Immortality," McGonagall said before Jean could finish.

"What do we do?" Marissa asked.  
"_You_ all do nothing. Go bring your things up here now," the headmistress said as she began to write on some parchment.  
"But, Professor. Octavia is out there and she's suspicious. If she catches us with bags she'll know we said something," Jean explained.  
McGonagall pinched the space between her eyes in frustration.

"I'll have your head of house escort you."

Lucius was reading the morning paper. Milly was on his lap having a spot of tea.  
"So what are your plans today, Mildred?" Lucius asked as he turned a page in the Daily Prophet.

"Nothing," Milly smiled cutely.  
"Best to enjoy your leisure now, I suppose."  
"Lucius!" Narcissa called as she hurried into the room clutching a letter.  
Tears were in her eyes.  
"What's wrong, Grandmother?" Milly asked, her cute smiled turned to worrying frown.  
"It's Octavia…!" Narcissa handed over the letter in her hand.  
Lucius took the letter and quickly read it.

"_To the parents/guardians of_

_Octavia Greengrass_

_It has come to the attention of the Headmistress at_

_Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_that Miss Greengrass has been practicing the dark arts on school grounds_

_with a number of her peers. _

_Please come to the headmistress's office to further discuss this serious _

_situation._

Minerva McGonagall  
Headmistress"

"How did this happen?" Lucius sneered.  
"Lucius-"  
"How could she do this!?" Lucius exclaimed angrily as he moved Milly off his lap and stood up, "This family has had enough disgrace at the hands of dark magic!"  
"She's just a child!"  
"She's 16 and of age!"  
"Lucius," Narcissa sneered, still with tears in her eyes, "She's just a girl!"  
"A girl threatening our entire family!"  
Milly began to cry as her grandparents argued.

"Milly… no, no, no. No tears," Narcissa said as she sat next to Milly.  
The little girl cried into her grandmother's chest.

"You go and see how bad everything is. I'll stay here with Milly," Narcissa said.  
"I'll be back," Lucius said as he went toward the fireplace, took a handful of floo powder from a bowl on the mantle, and soon disappeared in emerald flames.

_________

When Lucius got into McGonagall's office, the other parents were already there along with their children and there bags. Octavia was the only one not present.  
"Where's Octavia?" Lucius said harshly.  
"I will explain everything in a moment, Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall said.  
Lucius sneered as the aged headmistress, once more, began to scribble on some parchment. When she was finished, McGonagall glared seriously at all the adults.  
"In the letter I told you all the seriousness of the situation; but not exactly what your children had done," she said, then paused for a moment, and continued, "Your children created a horocrux."  
You could cut the thick aura of terror and surprised with a knife. It was all over the parents' faces.  
"How!?" an adult Blaise Zabini exclaimed.  
McGonagall had his own daughter explain what happened and for how long they were planning their little rendezvous.

Before Blaise and his wife could explode on their daughter, Mrs. Nott asked with a trembling tone, "What do we do?"  
"I'm afraid all these children, and Octavia, will be expelled."  
"Well why isn't Octavia here?" Blaise asked.  
Lucius sneered.  
"I'm afraid it was Octavia who the horocrux was made for. She is in a very volatile state and we haven't brought any of this to her attention yet," McGonagall explained.  
"When will she know?" Asked Marissa.  
McGonagall told everyone that Octavia was summoned and should be arriving with the Slytherin head of house any minute.  
…But any minute turned into 10 minutes. Then 15. Then 20. Then 25.  
"We've been here long enough!" Lucius exclaimed.  
"Mr. Malfoy, if do not recall, Hogwarts is a large school and for a witch as clever as your granddaughter-"  
"Professor!"  
McGonagall was cut off by the Slytherin head of house entering the room.

"The Greengrass girl, she cannot be found," he said.  
"What do you mean she cannot be found!?" Lucius exclaimed.  
"I've searched everywhere and asked as many people as I could. She's…not on the school grounds."  
McGonagall pondered for a moment before looking gravely at the students, "Did you children ever come across a vanishing cabinet?"


	21. Chapter 21

Hello there, readers! Here is just a little author-ly note here. First off; thanks for reading the story so far :) I appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy it. But what I'm saying here is that I think I may have screwed up what age was considered 'of age' in the wizarding world. I think I said Octavia was 16 in her birthday chap. (among others); but if the age is actually 17, I apologize and that is what it should be. Just a little note if anyone was confused. Now on to chapter 21….

* * *

"How much damn longer? Octavia hissed.  
"You want this to come out right, dontcha?" a burly man with a tattoo gun asked.  
Octavia bit her lip very hard as the needle pressed into her skin.  
Truth be told, Octavia didn't need any vanishing cabinet. All she really had to do was apperate out from Hogsmeade.

Where she went was a dodgy tattoo parlor in muggle London.

Octavia was hunched over having the muggle ink pressed into her fair skin just under her shoulder blade. She was getting a little black and white lion. What the tattoo artist figured was hissing from pain was actually Octavia regretting starting. It was taking so long! She only wanted to see what it felt like; but even that was disappointing. She felt no pain. _It must be the horocrux_, she thought.

____________________

"She apperated!?" Lucius exclaimed.  
"She must have," Jean said, "We never have seen a vanishing cabinet."  
"Where could she have gone?" Lucius asked angrily, directing his question more to Octavia's friends.  
"We don't know. Octavia is all about protecting Milly, so maybe back to Malfoy Manor," suggested Jean.  
"What about her mum?" asked Carson.  
Everyone looked at the blonde boy.

"Think about it; Octavia wants to protect Milly… and has a crummy relationship with their mum. Maybe Octavia would be looking for her?"  
"Perhaps, but before we can find Octavia we need to know what the horocrux is," McGonagall said.  
"The doll. Milly's doll," Marissa said.  
"How did Octavia get Mildred's doll?" Lucius asked.  
"She summoned it, and then owled it back," Marissa explained.  
"I'll go home and destroy the thing," Lucius said as he walked toward the fireplace in the office (McGonagall had once put in for those cold winter nights she was up late working).

"No, Mr. Malfoy. Bring it back here," McGonagall said sternly.  
"I can just destroy it and be done with it."  
"_No_, Mr. Malfoy, you really must bring it here. Horocruxs are very hard to destroy and-"  
"You think just because you fought on the side of Potter during the war?"  
"Lucius," McGonagall scowled, "Just bring it back here or I will have to inform the Ministry sooner rather than later to apprehend Octavia."

Lucius had a very soul look on his face as, once more, he disappeared into emerald flames in the fireplace.

____________

Once Lucius was in his own fireplace, he simply told Narcissa he was handling the situation.  
"Lucius, you need to-"  
"I need to do what the great Hogwarts headmistress tells me," Lucius said harshly and left the room.  
"Grandmother?" Milly asked, "Is Octavia in trouble?"  
"A little bit, dear. But don't you worry. Grandfather and your father will fix it."  
In full honestly, Draco was at work and had no idea about Octavia. The letter was sent to Malfoy Manor and not the Ministry… yet.  
Once in Milly's room, Lucius glanced around the room but didn't see the doll.  
"Mildred!" he yelled from the top floor, "I need to get me something!"

"That'll be 233 pounds," the tattoo artist said to Octavia.  
"Alright," she said coolly, "But do you have a lavatory in this place? I needed to go since before we started."  
The man looked a bit suspicious, but pointed Octavia to a door down a cramp hallway with pictures of people with different ink on the walls.  
"Thank you," she said and casually walked down the hall and opened the door.  
Octavia had no muggle money, of course, nor had any intention of paying for her new ink. It was a risk; but one Octavia was happy to take. There was a window at normal height, but heavily iced over so no one could see in or out.  
After locking the door, Octavia opened the window and simply stepped out of the window and went off down the street until the tattoo parlor was well out of sight.

Octavia changed out of her Hogwarts uniform before she left. Rather than a skirt, knee socks, and white collar shirt she blended in a bit more with black pants and a long jacket. It was a bit chilly out, but Octavia walked slowly down the cracked streets and past the shady looking buildings.

Octavia had some questions… and knew the general area of where to find the person to answer them.


	22. Chapter 22

McGonagall, closely followed by the company from her office, rushed down the hallway. Most of the students were in the Great Hall for dinner.  
"Where are we going?" Lucius asked as he clutched Milly's doll.  
McGonagall didn't turn her head or slow down when said quickly, "The Hogwarts Express has arrived to take all you students and your parents back to London. But Mr. Malfoy; I want you to follow me."  
The group was nearing the courtyard when everyone spotted that James Potter leaning against the wall.  
"Potter!" McGonagall said, "Potter have you seen Octavia?"  
He looked a bit taken aback, but whether it was by the question or large group of people was unknown.  
"I saw her a few hours ago. I asked her what she was up to and she hexed me. Bloody strong one. I was going to follow her but she headed off the grounds and I didn't want a detention."  
McGonagall sighed, "Well at least you have gotten a bit more sense that your father," and she and the group continued.  
When it was time the part split leaving only McGonagall and Lucius heading toward the local village.  
"What do you plan to do?" Lucius asked.  
"You know I must alert the Ministry and have them look for her."  
"You really think she's a danger-"  
McGonagall stopped dead in her tracks on the bridge.  
"Mr. Malfoy, you know as well as I do Voldemort was her age when he began to immerse himself in the Dark Arts. Now I do not believe Octavia is a bad child; but I do believe she has some grudges and her creating a horocrux is just too much for me to let go of."  
Lucius took a deep breath and they continued onward until they came to the shabby, if not a bit sketchy, Hogs Head pub.  
Aberforth, the owner, had ago long died. Instead, a well dressed young man by the name of Calisto Macnair (nephew of the later death eater Waldon Macnair). His given name, meaning most beautiful in Greek, was not ironic at all. He was very handsome, if not a bit slippery looking, and he even sported a similar black moustache, but it was thin. He was only just out of school when he bought the pub.

"Have you seen a girl named Octavia?"  
Calisto walked out from behind the bar.  
"Purple-ish hair? Pale, weird eyes? Yes, she was here. I told her she shouldn't be here, but then she laid on some flirty line and aperated out. Don't know to where, but she said something about muggles."  
"Her mother," Lucius said instantly as the young man finished.  
"She must have gone to find her mother," McGonagall said in agreement.

"What now?" the blonde man asked.  
"I'm going to break a bit of protocol and stall on telling the Ministry until tomorrow. I'll tell them your capable and looking, but I'll leave out where she is," McGonagall took a long breath and stared at Lucius.  
"Why don't I just destroy the doll?" Lucius asked.  
"Octavia is in a very dangerous place. You destroy the doll; she could end up hurt or _worse._"  
Lucius took a moment and sighed. He agreed to find Octavia, put the doll in his pocket, and aperated out.

"So…" Calisto said randomly after Lucius was gone.  
McGonagall looked sternly at him.  
"What's wrong with the girl?"  
"Nothing."  
"…She's really smart. That old guy better not just expect to find her."  
"How would you know?" McGonagall asked.  
"She comes around sometimes. She goes on and on about how everyone is so under her and yadda yadda. Honestly, the girl is good, but pretty obsessive about getting back at someone."


	23. Chapter 23

"Grandmother?" Milly asked as she and Narcissa sat alone at the dinner table.  
"Yes, dear?"  
"Where are Grandfather and Octavia?"  
"Your grandfather needed to go help Octavia, Milly."  
"Did she do something wrong?"  
Narcissa took a bite of what was on her fork to giver herself a moment to come up with an answer.  
"Your sister is worried about your Mother."  
"Is Mum alright?" Milly asked, wide-eyed.

"Don't worry, dear. The grown-ups are taking care of everything."  
Narcissa could tell Milly was gravely unsure. The blonde woman simply smiled and asked Milly to clean her plate and promised afterwards she would read the little girl a bedtime story.

_______________________________

It was very, very dark when Lucius caught on to Octavia's trail. It took Lucius nearly 20 minutes before he found out she was in the tattoo parlor near Kings Cross.  
"Yea," said the tattoo artist inside, "Young broad came in while ago. Got a nice ink she did on her shoulder. Bitch slipped out the bathroom window before she paid."  
Lucius cringed at hearing the dirty muggle man speak and ignored him as the artist yelled about being paid on his leaving.

Lucius didn't know anything about muggle London, especially not the poor areas. All he could assume by the homeless wandering about was that there were plenty of places to hide in the abandoned buildings and alleyways.

It began to rain. Lucius took out his wand transfigured an old board from an alleyway into an umbrella. His cane clicked on the broken pavement as he continued in the darkness. He knew it would be a long shot but he needed to try and find some clue; some trace. It began to pout even harder and the winds picked up. It was almost as if there was something that didn't want Octavia to be found. He had been walking for at least a half hour since he left the tattoo parlor and finally gave up for the night.  
Lucius aperated home, and went up to bed. Narcissa, awoken by the door creaking, groggily arose and rubbed her eyes.  
"L-Lucius…." she yawned and blinked a few times rapidly, "Did- didja find 'er?"  
"No," Lucius took a long pause and took off his gloves long cloak, "She's very determined and well hidden."  
"Should we tell Draco or Milly?" Narcissa asked as she sat up in bed.  
"No," Lucius said once more, "Draco will find out when McGonagall sends her letter to the Ministry and Mildred doesn't need to know her sister is facing life in Azkaban."  
"Well we can't let Milly be in the dark and you cannot let Octavia end up in Azkaban…!"  
"Narcissa, I can't just pull strings the way I used to nor can Draco," Lucius's tone seemed to sound almost hopeless when he said, "Our name just isn't what it used to be. And even if it was; I'd doubt I could convince the Ministry to just let her go."  
"I'm not asking for her to get off completely," Narcissa said sternly, "But not Azkaban! Lucius, she's a child; a child who was raised by a painfully unstable woman. You can't single handedly blame everything on her."  
Lucius changed into his pajamas and joined his wife in bed. After feeling the cold rain felt him and walking through puddles, the combined warmth of his wife and soft bed and covers warmed him right up.  
"What are we going to do?" whispered Narcissa as she cuddled close to her husband.  
"Waiting is all we can do."

_______________________________________

_ "WHAT!?"_

Narcissa wasn't the only one who thought waiting was a painful idea.  
"How could no one tell me this!?" Draco roared to the Minister of Magic.

"Mr. Malfoy, just calm down, relax," Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, said.  
"No! You listen to me, Shacklebolt! I want my daughter found!"  
"Of course, of course, Draco. We're going to send aurors out for and-"  
"Aurors!? They're going to kill her! She's not some dark wizard she's a student!"  
Kingsley sighed and picked up a letter on his desk.  
"I'm afraid Octavia is in serious trouble. Professor McGonagall said that your father was also looking. Do not worry, Draco. I know exactly who to send."  
"Me," Draco sneered as he went for the office door.  
"Potter."  
While his back was turned to the Minister, Draco's face just fell. He turned slowly and cringed an awful cringe and said coldly, "Harry Potter is not going near my daughter."  
The Minister sighed.  
"He's one of our top aurors and one of our least wild ones. He'll be able to take her in safely."  
"Bull. I'm going to find my own daughter."  
"Draco!" Kingsley called before Draco opened the door.  
"This is a letter from McGonagall for specifically you. In her letter to me she said there was someone at Hogwarts with information pertaining to your daughter."  
Draco grudgeingly strolled over and took the letter, opening it and reading it right there.  
"And to make your decision on whether you will talk to the source easy; Potter is already looking, so meeting with that person is the only place you are needed."  
Draco's face had a sour look on it when by the time he read the letter and Kingsley stopped talking.  
It was clear there was one person who was willing to talk; someone by the name of Calisto Macnair.


	24. Chapter 24

At Hogwarts; the day went on as if there was nothing wrong. Well; nothing besides both Slytherin and Ravenclaw house were missing a few members.

Reluctantly, Draco made his way to the Hogs Head and demanded to speak to that Calisto fellow mentioned in the letter.  
"Here, Mr. Malfoy," Calisto said as he came from behind the bar.  
It was only about 10 AM and a Tuesday, so the bar was empty besides the two men.  
"Come, sit with me," the bar owner said as he sat down at a nearby table.  
"What do you know about my daughter?" Draco asked as he sat down.  
"Before I say anything, know that I don't know where she is _exactly_."  
"What do you mean _exactly_?" Draco asked as he cocked an eyebrow.

"I told McGonagall that Octavia won't be found easily. She's much too keen for that, nor will she go without a fight," the young man explained.  
Draco sighed in annoyance; he knew what he was hearing already.  
"She came in a few times. Normally, I don't let anyone under 18 in… bar policy you know. But I let her in. We talked a lot."  
"What did she say?"  
"She really had an almost obsessive grudge on someone. She never said who, but she said something about the Leaky Cauldron and that person running around the muggle slums. She's a good girl; very smart, quick witted, and brave. She has a real sense of responsibility- rare for someone of our house."  
"Is that all?" Draco asked, ready to leave.

He had an idea where he should be looking now.  
"No. I received this from the Minister," Calisto said and pulled an envelope from his jackets inside pocket and handed it to Draco.  
Draco took the letter and was angered it was just Kingsley warning him to back off the search and that his father and damn Potter were on her trail.  
Draco dropped the letter on the table and put his head in his hands and sighed.  
"…You raised a great girl," Calisto said.  
"I didn't raise her. She raised herself."  
"Then she raised herself very well…" Calisto looked away and ran his hand over his slicked back black hair, "I'd hate to see her hurt…"

__________________________________________

Shacklebolt wasn't kidding when he said Potter was one of the best aurors.  
Harry looked very similar to when he did when he was a school boy. His eyes were still emerald green and he still had his trademark scar. He still needed his round glasses and had sloppy black hair. The only real difference was that his face was more aged and he was a family man now.  
But always a crusader for destroying any dark magic.

While there wasn't too much dark activity since the fall of You-Know-Who, there were a few times Harry and auror company needed to be sent out. Potter was always the leader and always used the least amount of deadly force to catch their man (or woman).  
That's why Kingsley chose him and only him. He knew Potter could get the job done right.  
So there he was.  
The day was sunnier but the land was still wet. It rained well into the early morning. Harry was carefully searching through the same area Lucius did last night. Lucius was alerted and was told if he wanted to search he had to find new territory. Of course, that didn't go over well, but Lucius saw fighting against the great Harry Potter was as futile as it was 10 years ago.

Harry had a more practical manner of finding people hiding out in the muggle world. He asked questions. He asked questions even to the most distasteful of people. And that's why he was such a successful auror.

Harry didn't want to kill or even get into a duel with Octavia. True, he had never met the daughter of his school time rival, but he heard she was a good witch who underestimated the pull of the Dark Arts.

Harry and the Minister devised a plan. The Minister placed a Taboo on the name 'Octavia Malfoy'. When Harry said that; the Minister would be alerted and, in turn, notifies Lucius, Draco and McGonagall.  
Now the hard part: to actually find her.

Not everyone pieced together that Octavia was looking for her and Milly's mum. The papers already went wild with the story. On the front page of the Daily Prophet, the headline was:

"**THE NEXT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED?  
SLYTHERIN STUDENT EXPELLED FOR DARK MAGIC"**

Luckily, Octavia's name wasn't published, but it was published the student took another students life with a company of other students (also unnamed).

Harry walked carefully through the muggle streets, showing Octavia's picture to various people he saw. He was getting close. More and more people were recognizing her and point him in the same direction.

By lunchtime he had gotten a solid lead on where she was.  
Some muggle teenagers said they saw her showing off some tattoo in an especially dirty neck of town.

Harry still made sure he wasn't missing any clues and going slow. So naturally, it took him longer to reach his destination, which was a fair walk away.

It took a while; but finally he got to where he heard Octavia was hiding out.  
There was a large abandoned house, two floors with an attic. Windows were boarded up or some knocked out completely. Harry carefully stepped on the rotting wooden patio and opened the door. It nearly fell off with the force of being opened.  
The first floor was empty, but Harry could see fresh footprints in some dusk on the floor. Slowly, Harry walks up the creaking stairway.  
Upstairs, all the doors to the rooms were open, and empty. Harry slowly navigated the upstairs until he heard a faint crying. Slowly, he cautiously walked, wand in hand, to where he heard it coming from. He peeked inside what he thought was at one time a master bedroom.  
Inside, he could see Octavia standing over someone in a corner.  
"Octavia…?" Harry said quietly.  
He saw Octavia spin around and was horrified at how she looked.  
She looked very serpent-like, but still very human and feminine. It was a strange appearance that one couldn't completely describe.  
One thing that was describable was that Octavia's hair was much longer than it was just a few days ago, and it grew in an impossible rate. From being rather short and choppy it was now almost at her waist, but still deep purple.  
"Who are you?" She asked angrily.  
"Your father and grandparents are real worried about you…" Harry said as he slowly entered the room.  
Octavia narrowed her eyes, "You're from the Ministry. You're here to arrest me and give this bitch a damn metal…!"  
'The damn bitch' in the corner flinched and wiped a tear from her eyes. Her cheek had a steak of tears going down toward her chin. Her hair was long and unkempt and her clothes were not washed at all.  
"Who is this?" Harry asked.  
"Me dear Mum," Octavia said, almost smirking, "Isn't she beautiful? Beautiful from how far she fell?"  
"What do you mean?"  
Octavia sighed and said sharply, "You're son gets his thickness from you, I see."  
Harry knew never to get mad in a situation like this, it's what they want; but never did anyone take a crack at his eldest child.  
"Octavia… how about you give me your wand and we talk? I don't need to arrest you or bring you anywhere-"  
"No…! I'm going to stop this bitch one and for all! Then we can chat over tea and pumpkin pastries."  
"What are you going to do?" Harry asked, an ounce of anxiety and dread in his voice.  
"Kill her," Octavia said simply with no remorse or facial expression.  
She quickly turned toward her mother and raised her wand and managed to say the first part of the curse; but Harry managed to just disarm her.  
Once more, Octavia spun quickly around and tried to grab her wand but Harry kicked it away and out of the room and out of sight.  
Octavia looked defeated, but stared at Harry. She breathed heavily for a moment, so much so one could see her chest rising and falling.  
"If you don't come with me I'm afraid I can't solve this between us," Harry said, almost pleading.  
"No," the girl hissed.  
"I have no choice… Octavia Malfoy…!"


	25. Chapter 25

It took Octavia a moment before she realized what was happening. She looked at Harry questioningly, and was very surprised when Lucius, the Minister and McGonagall all suddenly aperated into the room.  
"So the great Harry Potter can't even take out a teenager," Octavia said smugly.  
"Octavia, stop this madness," Lucius said gruffly.  
"We want to listen and to help," McGonagall said.  
"Where was my help as a girl!?" cried Octavia, "Where my sisters help when she was nearly killed by this worthless sack of flesh here!?"  
The adults went silent, and Astoria's whimpering was clearly heard.  
"Shut up!!" Octavia roared, not turning from the adults.  
"I don't give a damn if you lock me up…" Octavia said lowly.  
"No one wants to do that," said Kingsley.  
"Sure you don't."  
"…Your grandmother and sister are worried about you," Lucius said.  
Octavia looked straight to her grandfather at the mention of her sister.  
"How's Milly?" Octavia asked quietly.  
"She's-"  
"My baby girl…!" shrieked Astoria through her sobs, "I miss ma' baby!"  
"Shut up I said!" Octavia screeched and kicked her mother from behind.  
"Octavia!" exclaimed McGonagall, "Octavia, please. Come with us and we can work everything out. Your mother won't be able to hurt you or Milly anymore."  
Octavia appeared to ponder the thought, and relaxed her stance.  
Harry took a step forward and put his hand out and smiled.  
Octavia made a move as if she was going to take his hand. Right before her palm touched his; she yanked her arm back and summoned her wand back into her hand. While the adults were stunned Octavia managed to cast a powerful energy spell at the group of adults and push past them while they were stunned.  
"Catch her!" Kingsley yelled as he and the others took to running after her.  
Octavia was quicker and agile, however. She seamlessly weaved through any obstacles in her way until she reached the street and continued to take off.  
"Lucius…!" exclaimed McGonagall as the group of adults tried to keep up, "The doll! Destroy it!"  
Lucius quickly took the doll from his jacket pocket and asked how to destroy it.  
"You need very powerful magic!" exclaimed Harry.  
"Like what?" sniped Lucius.  
"I don't know…!" Harry exclaimed, not clearing remembering.  
"Everyone; look," Kingsley said as they came to an intersection.  
"Everyone, take a path," McGonagall instructed, "And Lucius; continue with the doll. We can't take her down if it's intact."  
Everyone nodded and took off in their own direction.  
Harry took the left-most street and cautiously hurried down the street. He peeked through the alleys and made sure she wasn't about to sneak up on him.  
"So it's you."  
Harry found himself in front of Octavia in a cul-de-sac of dilapidated houses and sheds with overgrown lawns.

"I don't want to hurt you," Harry said.  
"I don't care; you couldn't if you tried," Octavia hissed with a twisted smile.

Harry took a deep breath and shot a simple spell at Octavia as a warning.  
She dodged with ease and was very angered.  
"Alright, Potty," she hissed, "We duel."  
Octavia bowed quickly and Harry followed suit.  
The second Octavia was at full height she blasted a very powerful curse at Harry.  
He blocked and shot a weaker, but still powerful curse but to no avail.  
The duel raged on for a long time with neither person making any real headway. Octavia was a fantastic duelist for her age; and Harry was hoping, preying that the doll would be destroyed.  
Harry wasn't the spring chicken he once was. He was tiring and Octavia could see this. She crept closer and closer and was taking full offense. She even managed to hit Harry once, but he quickly recovered.

"Octavia… stop!" Harry screamed.  
Octavia simply dodged his curse and smiled.

Harry was a second too late to dodge Octavia's latest curse. He was sent flying backwards and fell to his knees. Right before Harry could stand he heard footsteps running toward him.  
"It's done!"

Octavia looked up for a moment and saw Lucius and the others rapidly approaching.  
"What-?"  
Lucius came right near Harry and dropped the doll on the ground. Before; anyone could say anything; Lucius shot a very powerful spell at the doll and it exploded. Out of the debris, a small puff of greens smoke came out.  
At that moment; something in Octavia changed. She didn't feel so powerful. She felt tired and worn. She felt emotions beside anger and pain; she felt confused and scared. Without the protection of the horocrux she felt vulnerable.

If Octavia had any energy to right she could have easily blocked the leg locker curse sent at her by Kingsley.  
Octavia just laid there, feeling embaressed and defeated. Her face was red and she could feel tears welling in her eyes.

All the adults came closer and looked over the girl from above.  
"Do what you want," Octavia said through gritted teeth, "I can't do anything. Lock me up."  
Kingsley got down on his knee and McGonagall went down and helped Octavia sit up.  
Kingsley was eye to eye with Octavia when he said easily, "How about we talk?".


	26. Chapter 26

Octavia was cold.

She was sitting in McGonagall's office, alone, covered in a blanket and sipping some hot cocoa. The room wasn't cold, and the summer was quickly approaching; but something in Octavia made her cold.  
Octavia trilled her breathing when she heard the adults enter the room. McGonagall, Shacklebolt, Lucius and Potter all crowded in and looked down at Octavia sitting in a chair.  
"…I'm ashamed…" Octavia said into her cup.  
"Octavia, we don't want to lock you up in Azkaban. You're not evil, just misguided. Now please, tell us why," Kingsley said.  
The teenager sighed.  
"After we learned more about the horocruxes, I thought I could save my sister. I mean, if anything or anyone went near my sister again… I could take them down. But after we did… my feelings changed. I started feeling dark and saw myself change. It wasn't about protecting Milly anymore… it was about revenge. I started thinking about how much I hated Mum. I was more vocal to that guy at the Hogs Head-"  
"Calisto," McGonagall said.  
"Yeah," Octavia said, "And eventually I plotted to do exactly what my thoughts said I should…"  
"I see," Kingsley said.  
"Minister," Lucius said, and cleared his throat before continuing, "Do you really think Azkaban is appropriate for a young lady? The events in the last few weeks were not completely her fault."  
Lucius's tone was cool, but not cold. It was like he was genuinely concerned, but trying to be professional.  
Kingsley turned and said, "Yes, I understand, Mr. Malfoy. Nor do I believe Octavia's actions were purely her own doings. However, what she did was serious. Serious enough she and her peers took the life of a friend. Something must be done."  
"…How are the others…Jean, Carson and Marissa?"  
"They were expelled. And I'm afraid regardless of the official punishment; so will you," McGonagall said darkly.  
Octavia sniffled hard and tried to keep herself from crying. She was crushed; 100 percent crushed.  
"Octavia, I'm going to let you go home and be with your family. I'm afraid it will take a bit of time to calm the papers and get your punishment; but right now I want you to do something now," the Minister said.  
"The papers…" Octavia moaned lowly, "And of course; anything, sir."  
"I want you now to write a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Bland."  
Octavia hadn't thought of Balinda since she died. It was a weird sensation. A girl who was never really her friend, taken by her own hand was haunting her just now. It was eerie.  
"We'll give you some time," McGonagall said as she, Lucius, and Kingsley left.  
Harry Potter, however, stayed. He was silent until now, and only began to speak when the other adults left.  
"You're quite a duelist," Harry said.  
"Yeah."  
"Nearly got me. Second or two more and I'd be finished."  
He leaned on the Headmistress's desk.  
"Why are you here?" Octavia asked and looked up into Harry's emerald-colored eyes.  
Harry could see tears welling in her grey eyes.  
"I want to help you. Octavia, I've battled the dark arts and you're not Voldemort. I can see it in your eyes."  
"How do you know!?" Octavia snapped, "How do you know I'm not tainted?"  
Harry was quiet for a moment, thinking of what to say, but he finally managed to say, "I know this. You went down the path your father did-"  
"My father?" Octavia asked as she used some of the blanket to blot her eyes.  
"Yes. See, you're father got in heavy with Voldemort. All your family was. He was going to do something terrible; but he didn't. It wasn't him."  
"What did they do?" Octavia asked.  
"I don't think it's my place to say…" Harry trailed off but quickly picked up, "The point is: you're family isn't horrible and evil."  
"I just wanted to help my sister…"  
"Do you know what's the difference between you and Voldemort and every other dark witch or wizard?"  
"Hm?"  
"Voldemort had no friends or family and he didn't want any. You wanted to_ protect_ your family."  
"I guess…"  
The two sat and listened as Octavia sipped her drink. It was Harry who asked if Octavia wanted him to help her write her letter to Balinda's parents. Harry knew she wanted to ask; but with Slytherin pride and such…

After about 15 minutes Octavia had the first part of her letter. After a few more minutes Harry helped her add more and more until she had a nice sized letter.

"…Mr. Potter?" Octavia asked.  
"Yes?"  
"Where Grandfather? I want to go home."


	27. Chapter 27

**Hello, readers! :)  
I'm just making a note that yes, this is the FINAL chapter in this series. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it.**

**Anyway; if you haven't seen my profile page, I have an account on FictionPress where I'm going to log my original works. So if you're in the mood for a little original fiction by all means the link is on my profile page. I uploaded, at this point, 2 chapters to a new story and if you have the time I'd love to know how you think of my original stuff. (The story is very mature, however, so take note)  
Thanks again, and on to the story…. **

* * *

"OCTAVIA!"  
Milly ran as fast as she could to her into her sisters arms.  
It was very late at night. Lucius had taken Octavia home and promised he'd show himself and Octavia to the Ministry when the letter came.  
Milly hugged her sister as tight as she could and Octavia gladly hugged back.  
"Oh, Octavia…! We've both missed you so much!" Narcissa exclaimed as she came down the stairs and kissed her husband.  
"Where's Father?" Octavia asked.  
"Upstairs, in the shower. He arrived home a few hours ago and we had dinner just now."  
When Milly finally let go she began chattering quickly about the entire goings on about the mansion. Octavia took a moment to just smile down at her for a time before telling her she needed to speak to their father. Of course, that didn't stop Milly from chatting her big sisters ear off as Octavia went up the stairs, down the hall and out of sight from Lucius and Narcissa.  
"How was the take down?" Narcissa asked as she led her husband to the kitchen where a hot pot of tea and two empty cups sit on the table.  
"Horrendous. She fought Harry Potter for ages and nearly got him," Lucius explained as he sat down next to his wife.  
"Here," Narcissa said and poured him a cup, "Really? But the horocrux-"  
"I doubt she'd of lost even if she was on her own."  
"…We're very lucky, Lucius, you do realize this, don't you?"  
Lucius brought the tea cup to his lips and took a long sip before slowly brining it back to the table. He sat silent, staring at his cup pondering. It was only when Narcissa repeated his name and put her hand on his did he speak.  
"Yes. I realize this."

Upstairs; Octavia knocked on her father's door. She heard her father move around and call out he was coming.  
"Milly? Can you go to your room? I'll be in and read you a story in a bit," Octavia said.  
Milly looked as if she was going to put up a fuss; but regardless she went to her room and shut her door.  
"Hello?" Draco said as he opened the door.  
Octavia couldn't help but grin.  
Draco didn't grin, but rather he pulled his daughter into a hug.  
"Oh, Octavia…"  
"I'm sorry, Father… I just-"  
"Here, come in," Draco said and let his daughter come in and sit on his bed.  
"Father, I'm so sorry… I just… Things got out of control and I just wanted to save Milly and get Mum back…"  
Draco put an arm around his daughter.  
"It's alright, it's all going to be alright," Draco said reassuringly.

Octavia nodded her head as if she understood. Draco could tell she was about to say or do something, but was taken well aback when Octavia rotated and put her face in his chest and began to weep.  
"I've fucked my life…!" she moaned through tears.

"No, no, no, it's not like that," Draco said, almost getting choked up himself, "It's going to be fine."  
"Look at what I've done…" Octavia said and looked straight into her father's eyes, "I've KILLED a girl, I had my friends help, I dueled the damn savior of the wizarding world."  
"Octavia, I promise. I let a horrible women bring you two girls up and I don't blame you for what you did. I swear on my own life I won't let them take my oldest girl away."  
Draco said the final part through gritted teeth. He himself needed to resist the urge to cry and his daughter sobbed into his chest. And even when it was over, Draco didn't want to let go.  
It was truly dawning on him why Octavia did what she did. There wasn't a truly malicious bone in her body. Even her evil deeds were done to protect or aid others.

Even after Octavia stopped crying she didn't leave her fathers side. She curled up with him and for the first time in the longest time; Octavia felt loved by one of her parents.

__________________________________________________________________________

The letter came in two weeks. The entire family, including little Milly, was due to appear in three days to plead Octavia's case in front of the Wizengamont.

Octavia was determined to escape a sentence in Azkaban.  
She cut her hair back to how it was before she dabbled in the dark arts, and even returned it to it's natural color. She and Narcissa went to Diagon Alley and picked out all new clothes for the trial. Very professional.  
While Milly wasn't told of why, exactly, she knew she was going too.  
Everyone was anxious when the day came. Everyone got up extra early and Octavia even earlier to be sure to help Milly with her hair.  
"Why are we going to the Ministry?" Milly asked as she sat in front of the vanity in Octavia's room.  
"I told you," Octavia said as carelessly as she could manage, "I did some bad things… but I know they're bad. And now I need to convince the others that I won't ever even think about doing bad things again."  
"Why though? Why do they need to know?"  
"Because it's just how it goes," Octavia said as she finished brushing Milly's white blonde hair and began to braid it.  
"I know you won't do any more bad things," Milly said.  
"I know," Octavia said, getting choked up, just like her father that one night.

The family was at the Ministry and heading toward the trial chamber by 8 AM. Kingsley Shaklebolt, among the other adults that helped recover Octavia, were all outside waiting to testify for Octavia. McGonagall said that inside, Balinda's parents were inside now, testifying against Octavia. They were pressing for life in Azkaban.  
It was a very dark and gloomy aura around them all. The only chipper one was Milly, completely unaware of the serious nature of the day. Narcissa and Draco were playing along with her happiness, while Lucius and Octavia stared at the floor.  
By 9:30 the group heard the ancient doors creak open. Who came out first was a very elderly man who at full height was no more than five feet tall. Then came out Balinda's parents.  
Mr. Bland was indeed just that; bland. His features were rather uneventful and just looking at him made one bored.  
Mrs. Bland was a homey, librarian looking type and walking with her nose high in the air and a strict stride.  
Octavia stared at the ground to avoid eye contact, but the Blands' didn't look at any of them anyway. The didn't make a sound. Just moved on.

The elderly man looked down the row of adults and called Draco in first.

The way testimony went was that each person as called in on their own and asked a few questions. Mostly about Octavia's character, how long they've known Octavia, and what they thought Octavia would do in the future.  
The testimony was much shorter than the Blands'. The order went: Draco, Narcissa, Lucius, McGonagall, Milly (she was, however, allowed to have Narcissa with her to calm her nerves), then Kingsley and finally Octavia.  
The teenager's heart felt as if it was due to bust when she was called in.  
Inside the round room there was a single lonely chair in the middle where she, and the others before her, sat. There was a large number of mostly older and very important looking wizards and witches in official uniform sitting on a low balcony in front of her.  
"Hello, Miss Greengrass," said the head wizard.  
Octavia couldn't tell if he was sympathetic or not.  
"Hello, sir. Hello, everyone. Thank you for seeing me and my family today," Octavia said, her voice trembling slightly.  
"Yes, yes," the head wizard said, obviously uninterested in her greeting, "We have some questions for you. And by the end of the day we shall decide that if you shall spend the rest of your life in Azkaban for the following charges: Murder and the creation of an outlawed dark artifact."  
"I understand, sir."  
The entire group of the eyes staring down at her asked her questions. Questions about her life, questions about what happened, rhetorical questions, and all sorts.  
Her questioning too a lot longer. And even when it was over, she was forbidden to leave the Ministry building until sunset when the decision was made.

Octavia insisted that everyone leave and enjoy the day. Milly was getting a bit restless; so Narcissa and Lucius took her out for ice cream and a stroll. Draco, on the other hand, stayed behind and sat at the edge of the giant fountain in the lobby area,  
"Hey, Father?" Octavia asked.  
"Yea?"  
"What did you do that was so bad?"  
"What do you mean?" Draco asked as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.  
"Potter said that you made some stupid decisions like I did when you were my age. What was it, exactly?"  
Draco sighed deeply and said, almost expecting to be asked this question, that he new he needed to explain. So he did. Rather awkwardly, he spun the story of what happened between him, his parents and everyone close to him during Voldemort's second rising.  
Octavia was stunned, silenced, even.  
"It was just me following crap ideology," Draco said, "Bad faith."  
"Yea…" Octavia said absentmindedly.

By sunset the entire family was back in front of that old creaking door. When the old man came out once more, he summoned both Octavia and Kingsley.  
"We have reached a decision," the head wizard said.  
Octavia was sitting in that middle chair while Kingsley had an apprehensive hand on Octavia's right shoulder.

It is at this point the story must end. Unfortunately, even the best ones do. Thankfully, however, this was not the end of Octavia's story. She was not sentenced to Azkaban. She was, however, expelled from school, along with her friends. She was also sentenced to a curfew until she came to age 21 and the Ministry was going to randomly visit the Malfoy mansion to check up on Octavia until hew curfew expired.  
Even if Octavia never returned to Hogwarts, she was an avid reader and kept up with studies on her own time. Even if her chances were slim, she was determined to become a member of the group of people who judged her and spared her life.  
However, schooling was not all Octavia had time for.  
By the time her curfew was expunged Octavia got married to a certain Calisto Macnair.  
Milly started Hogwarts on time, as a Slytherin, and nothing was ever held against her, and eventually she became a well adjusted, enthusiastic student.  
Astoria was later captured and put in a St. Mungos ward as a danger to herself and others.

Draco continues working in the Ministry while Lucius and Narcissa enjoy a happy retirement.

As of this writing, Octavia Macnair is expecting the birth of her first child with Caliso. They live a comfortable life in a mansion not too far from Malfoy Manor and see the Malfoy's and Milly regularly. After contacting the Ministry, it was determined that Octavia's past activities will not hinder her child(ren) from entering Hogwarts and receiving their acceptance letter on their 11th birthday.


End file.
